


Counterpart

by sara_holmes



Series: Puzzle Pieces [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Barton & Barnes Bromance, Behavioural Issues, Canon-Typical Violence, Clint Feels, Clint Is a Good Bro, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Implied child abuse (past), Implied child neglect (past), Kid Fic, Kidnapping, Love, M/M, Original Character(s), Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Parent-Child Relationship, Protective Avengers, Questionable parenting choices, Rescue, Steve Feels, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:16:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 217,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1659452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sara_holmes/pseuds/sara_holmes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>coun•ter•part  [koun-ter-pahrt] [noun] 1. a person or thing closely resembling another, especially in function. 2. a copy; duplicate. 3. one of two parts that fit, complete, or complement one another.</p><p>Just because Hydra used the DNA of a Captain America from another dimension to create a lab-grown, six-year-old super-soldier, it doesn't mean that said six-year old super-soldier is biologically Steve's, right?</p><p>(Where Steve wants to ban Clint from bringing things home from alternative dimensions, until he doesn't.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Clarification of tags, just in case - a small child who may technically belong to one of them appears in the Avengers' world. Said child is neither socially or emotionally secure, and exhibits lots of challenging behaviours which can be present in children with attachment and language issues, and those who have been through traumatic experiences. (The trauma for this child is being brought up in a lab with limited human contact, and it is never described explicitly in the fic.) Hand-in-hand with that, the Avengers do not necessarily know how to deal with a small child, especially one with such needs. They try and they will get there, but they may not make the wisest decisions whilst they're figuring it out. Give them time. 
> 
> Sorry if it's a bit spoilery, but I realised that the fic could potentially be triggery for some people and I don't want to unintentionally upset anyone. Any further questions, hit me up on [Tumblr](http://captn-sara-holmes.tumblr.com/) or [Livejournal](http://sara-holmes.livejournal.com/).

“Tony – we’ve got to get – Tony. Yeah, alright, but we’ve got to leave in –”

Tony tries to cut Steve off again with the simple yet amazingly efficient tactic of pressing their mouths together, cutting off his words with a kiss. Unfortunately, Steve has been sleeping with Tony for long enough to know when he’s playing dirty, and stops his attempts to void the conversation by planting his palm on Tony’s forehead and pushing him back.

“That’s cheating,” Tony says matter-of-factly from his position lying prone on top of Steve, grabbing Steve’s wrist and pulling it aside. 

“You’re cheating,” Steve replies with a roll of his eyes, and unceremoniously pushes Tony off of him and onto the mattress. He sits up and stretches, sheets pooling around his lap, and as Tony rights himself and watches him he reminds himself just how damn lucky he is to be sleeping with Steve Rogers. He reaches out absent-mindedly and runs his fingers down Steve’s spine, relaxing back against the pillows and wishing Steve didn’t care about the SHIELD briefing they’ve been asked to attend.

“Come on,” Tony says lazily, smoothing his palm over Steve’s back. “We don’t have to leave yet, therefore you can stay in bed.”

Steve sends Tony an exasperated look over his shoulder, which is completely undermined by the way he leans back down to kiss Tony slowly and unhurriedly as if he’s suddenly got all the time in the world.

These are Tony’s favourite moments, when it’s just the two of them together in his bed, pretending the rest of the world doesn’t exist. It took them long enough to get here, after months of bickering, fighting and bruised egos. He was lucky that the arguing resulted in angry sex rather than physical violence, really. More so considering the angry sex led to mildly annoyed sex led to sex led to something almost resembling dating. And now here they are; no longer angry, still having sex, not exactly dating but having everyone who knows them act like they’re a couple despite the fact they’ve never told anyone that anything is going on between them.

“That’s the spirit,” Tony murmurs against Steve’s mouth, and Steve hums in the back of his throat-

And then plants a smacking kiss against Tony’s mouth and pulls away. “Nice try,” he says, and climbs out of the bed, walking through to the bathroom completely naked.

Tony manages an indignant noise, propping himself up on an elbow. “Cheater,” he yells across the room, huffing and throwing himself back against the pillows. “You’re no fun.”

“I’ll be fun later,” Steve calls back. “We’re expected at SHIELD in an hour.”

“You go,” Tony yawns, nuzzling down into the pillows. “You can report back. I need to sleep. I only had a couple of hours.”

“And whose fault is that?” Steve replies, appearing in the doorway with his toothbrush in hand, still completely naked. Yep, morning routine with Steve Rogers is definitely Tony’s favourite part of the day.

“Yours,” Tony answers immediately, closing his eyes now he’s had his fill of eyeing up Steve. “I came to bed at a sensible time and you were the one who insisted on hours of hot, sweaty sex. I would have been asleep at two if it wasn’t for your dick.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Steve says, pushing off the doorframe and disappearing back into the bathroom. “Next time I won’t bother.”

“Like you could resist, Mr Super-Soldier-Sex-Drive,” Tony calls, and he hears Steve laugh even as the shower is turned on, the sound of rushing water soothing in its familiarity.

Tony throws an arm over his eyes and grins to himself, and he doesn’t often say it out loud but he’s not going to deny that ending up in a relationship with Captain America has actually turned out pretty well, considering Steve’s attachment issues and Tony’s previous pathological fear of commitment –

A banging at the door makes Tony sit bolt upright, and Steve darts back into the doorway, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and towel clutched around his waist, brow furrowed and tense.

Tony glances at him, and then back to the door, raising his voice to shout at whoever it is. “What?”

“Get dressed,” Bucky’s voice shouts back, and Steve visibly relaxes, reaching up to take the toothbrush out of his mouth. “There’s been a situation. Tell Steve as well.”

“He’s not here,” Tony yells, because he’s a bastard like that and will never pass up a chance to hear Bucky say he expects Steve to be with Tony. It’s an easy enough urge to understand, and it’s probably not emotionally healthy or whatever, but he can’t really bring himself to care 

“Yeah, and I’m the Crown Prince of Denmark,” Bucky calls back irritably. “Get up before I drag you both out, and I don’t want to see your junk.”

“What’s up?” Steve calls, and Tony pulls a face at Steve. He mouths ‘ _ruining the fun,_ ’ and Steve very pointedly gives him the finger. Tony rolls over and laughs into the pillow because that’s another thing that he loves, how Steve can be as proper as the damn president when he’s suited up and being the Captain, but here with Tony he reverts to being Steve Rogers, Brooklyn orphan and army grunt.

“Reed Richards,” Bucky shouts back, and Tony groans. “Got a message from another dimension apparently, an S.O.S.”

“Right,” Steve says, and Tony is climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom because yeah he’s flippant about SHIELD and responsibility but he knows when he needs to be serious, and this sounds deadly.

“On the way,” Steve shouts to Bucky, one hand brushing over Tony’s shoulder as Tony passes by him and slips into the bathroom. Steve follows him in, tossing his toothbrush aside and dropping his towel to the floor.

“If I let you in with me, do you promise to keep your hands to yourself?” he asks, nodding towards the shower.

“Scouts honour,” Tony replies promptly. “You know me, Cap. S.O.S from another dimension always takes priority over sex.”

“Good to know,” Steve says dryly, and pushes Tony into the shower, hands on his hips. “Hurry, this sounds like it might be more than a regular briefing.”

“Sir, yes, Sir,” Tony salutes, and even though it does sound serious he still can’t not spare a moment to laugh at the exasperated face Steve pulls.

 

* * *

 

Just how serious the situation is quickly becomes apparent when they arrive at the Baxter building. Not only are the Fantastic Four all there and looking grave (except Johnny, but that says nothing about the situation considering that the moron spends ninety percent of his time acting like a giant twelve year old) but a good chunk of the Avengers as well as SHIELD personnel are also there. Tony’s not too worried though; Nick Fury hasn’t deigned to show up and there’s no delegates from the WSC so he assumes the world isn’t in mortal peril this time around.

Tony stands at the back next to Steve, close enough so their shoulders brush. His eyes flick from where Sue Storm is arguing emphatically with Reed, to where Coulson is engrossed in conversation with Bruce, and finally to where Jonny is listening to Clint and Bucky and is obviously trying not to stare at Natasha’s ass.

“Look at Storm,” Tony mutters to Steve. “Deathwish?”

“Who do you think would do him more damage, Clint or Bucky?” Steve replies in an undertone. 

“Natasha,” Tony replies without hesitating, and Steve snorts with laughter. Tony looks up and notices that Coulson is watching him and Steve, expression neutral but obviously interested in what’s going on. He feels a slight urge to shift close to Steve, just to see if Coulson would react at all, but he ignores it.

“Listen up,” Reed calls, sounding tense. Next to Tony, Steve straightens up and goes into Captain mode, expression intent. Tony doesn’t call him on it, because this is a moment where they need Steve to be in Captain mode. 

“We’ve been looking at inter-dimensional portals for some time now,” Reed tells them. “Working out time scales, energy yields and polarity-”

“The non-geek version, please,” Clint calls, and Reed sends him a dirty look.

“The point is, we – I haven’t opened any portals from our dimension as it was deemed too risky. However, someone from another dimension has opened a non-temporal loop portal and managed to communicate with us.”

“Where is the contact point?” Tony asks.

“Here,” Reed admits. “In the chamber.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Coincidence, or down to the fact you were probably trying to open a portal without anyone noticing?”

Reed scowls at Tony. “It doesn’t matter,” he says. “The point is we’ve had a message from a Steve Rogers from another dimension, calling for help.”

Steve stiffens next to Tony, and all heads in the room turn to look at him. Tony looks about, and then holds up his hands. “Whoa, he didn’t send the damn message,” he says. “Stop staring, this is our Steve Rogers who doesn’t even know what non-temporal loop means. Come on, he’s still confused by the DVR.”

“A version of me sent an SOS?” Steve asks, choosing to ignore Tony. “In what form?”

“An audio recording,” Reed says.

“Play it,” Steve says, to general agreement from the others.

Reed looks at Steve for a moment. “I think he’s dead,” he says bluntly. “The other Steve Rogers. The message is a request for help, a summary of the situation, and then there’s the sound of close range shots and nothing more.”

Tony sucks in a breath, feeling his stomach twist and clench, because the thought of Steve – any Steve – being hurt makes him want to lash out and kill whoever was involved. He feels Steve shift next to him, folding his arms across his chest, and knows the motion is deliberate in the way Steve’s elbow brushes against his arm.

“Play it,” Steve replies evenly, and everyone goes quiet. Reed nods and stretches an arm out across the room, pressing a button on a console just behind Bucky. There’s the hiss of static and then Steve’s voice rings out, calm but strained, and Tony shifts on the balls of his feet, wanting to hold Steve’s hand in his own, clench it tightly to reassure them both that they’re still here and well.

“…contact has been compromised. I repeat, this is Commander Rogers from Earth Five Nine Four. The US has been under sustained attack from Hydra – the last eighteen months. We have infiltrated a Hydra base …” there’s the sound of explosions and static roars again. “We have – _shit_ – we have infiltrated a Hydra base and have been cut off from our support. We are requesting help from any parallel teams who receive this message-” There’s the sound of another blast and smashing glass, and the feed goes even more crackly. “-civilian casualties high – worldwide – we have discovered – samples – Hydra attempting to replicate – Hawkeye, get _down!_ I repeat, we suspect there are – in the vicinity we need evac- priority on finding and evacuating – must – please - to find him and get him out-”

And then there’s the horrible sound of gunshots and the message cuts out.

 “I’ve managed to locate the source of the message,” Reed says, as if they’ve not just listened to the last moments of a Steve Rogers from another dimension.  “And the chamber is stable. If we want, we can send a team through.”

“Fuck that,” Johnny says vehemently. “Did you not hear that?”

“Do we know anything else?” Steve asks.

“No,” Reed says.

“So we could go through and end up in the middle of a full-out war?” Tony summarises, rubbing his brow with his fingertips. “Right.”

“It’s possible,” Reed agrees.

“I’ll go,” Bucky says, and of course he does.

“Not on your own you won’t,” Steve glowers, and Bucky scowls right back.

“I’m the only armoured division at this party,” Tony offers.

“Great,” Johnny says. “So we’re definitely going?”

“Yes,” Steve and Tony say simultaneously. “You were listening,” Tony continues. “There was someone there he was desperate to evacuate.”

“Desperate enough to leave himself in a vulnerable position whilst he sent out the message,” Steve says slowly, and then looks up. “Who’s coming?”

Tony raises his hand. As does Bucky, Clint, Natasha, Thor and then after a moment’s pause, so does Johnny.

“Alright,” Steve says with a nod. “Reed and Bruce, you are to manage it from this end. Phil, can you notify SHIELD and let them know we’re going? And the X-Men as well, if this many of us are going?”

Phil nods and turns away, phone already at his ear. Bruce moves over to the computer consoles next to Reed, and Steve looks around at everyone else. “If you’re coming, suit up. Get what you need. Back here in thirty minutes or we’re going without you.”

Everyone moves at his word, going to grab equipment and suits, the atmosphere purposeful but tense. Tony doesn’t move, he just stays exactly where he is at Steve’s side.

“You need to suit up,” Steve says to him.

“It’ll take me ten minutes,” Tony shrugs. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Steve says, and turns to face Tony, blue eyes bright. “I should be asking you.”

Tony nods, and then laughs, a depreciating huff of sound. “Not gonna lie. Hearing your voice like that wasn’t exactly pleasant,” he admits, and Steve’s arm moves as if he wants to reach out for Tony, and Tony suddenly wonders why they’re still going along with their unspoken agreement to not show they’re together in front of other people. Everyone already obviously knows, so why are they bothering?

“Wasn’t me,” Steve says simply, and his expression is so understanding that Tony just _can’t_.

“Three second warning, Cap,” he says simply, and Steve raises an eyebrow but doesn’t move and then Tony leans in and presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth. Steve doesn’t kiss him back, but he turns his face slightly towards Tony’s and into the kiss, accepting.

“Suit up,” he repeats, and his eyes are on Tony’s and Tony knows the rest of the room are probably watching, but he doesn’t care. All he’s done is confirm what they already knew. “I need you with me on this one,” Steve says, and Tony nods, stepping away and moving towards the door.

“See you in fifteen,” he says, and Steve nods and Tony can feel his eyes on him as he leaves the room.

 

* * *

 

“Well. This all looks delightful.”

“Cut the chatter,” Steve instructs, and Clint obediently shuts his mouth, bow in hand, arrow nocked and ready to fly. The trip through the portal that Reed managed to stabilise was less than fun – Bucky had puked the moment his feet hit solid ground, but no-one is daft enough to mention it – however the journey is the last thing on their minds as they survey the scene in front of them. 

They’re in an abandoned building that looks somewhere between a research facility and a warehouse, and it’s eerily silent. The only noise they can hear is their own breathing, and it’s disconcerting considering what they heard on the message not an hour ago. Steve hates silence like this; he much prefers jumping into a fight where he can just get on with it and knock some heads together. He’d never cut it as a spy, as Tony is too fond of reminding him whenever he shouts or breaks something.

He scans their surroundings. It’s functional and modern inside, with smooth concrete floors and walls. Above their heads there’s a metal walkway running the length of the building, tucked along the side of the room underneath a row of large glass windows. Four of the windows are smashed, the glass scattered over the floor underneath their feet. There are a few large metal containers stacked against the walls, and a cluster of desks complete with computer terminals at the far end. At either end are a set of heavy metal doors, and a body slumped beside the ones on the right, face down.

It looks worryingly like they got here too late. 

“Iron Man, Widow - computers,” Steve instructs. “Find out what we’re looking at here. Hawkeye, Barnes, go check the perimeter, use the left exit. Thor, outside surveillance, tell us what you can see from the air. Storm, with me.”

Everyone nods and moves off without argument or causing a fuss. Steve doesn’t really want to let Tony out of his sight, but he knows that he cannot for a second let his personal feelings get in the way of a mission again. Hell, he’d almost caused the collapse of the damn government when dealing with Bucky as the Winter Soldier, and he wasn’t even sleeping with Bucky. 

“Iron Man, do you copy?” Steve asks as he heads towards the doors, in the opposite direction to Tony.

“Loud and clear,” Tony replies. “Cap, this is recent. The whole place is hot. Four or five degrees above the temperature outside.”

“Sure it’s not Storm?” Steve asks, watching as Johnny steps forwards and rolls over the body near the doors. The guy is dead, eyes blank and staring at nothing. Johnny blows out a breath, shakes his head and reaches out to gently close the man’s eyes. Steve doesn’t know if the body belongs to a friend or an enemy, but he’s glad the eyes are closed either way.

“No,” Tony replies. “Definitely not, he couldn’t heat up a whole place like this unless he fully lit up.”

“It’s not me,” Johnny confirms to Steve, voice low. “Man, this place is creeping me out.”

“Pussy,” Bucky’s voice says casually.

“Chatter,” Steve says pointedly before Johnny can retort, but he can still hear Clint sniggering over the comm lines. Once again he vows to never send Bucky and Clint off together when on missions; they just seem to egg each other on to act like idiots.

Steve pushes at the metal doors at the end and they swing open with the squeal of tight metal hinges. Cautiously, he steps through, Johnny following just behind.

“Where the hell is everyone?” Johnny asks in an undertone as they step into the dark corridor beyond. “It’s too still.”

Steve nods in agreement with the assessment. “I have no idea. Light?” he asks, and Johnny obliges, his fingers immediately lighting up with bright yellow flame and throwing their surroundings into relief. It glints brightly off the surface of the shield, and Steve flexes his fingers in the straps, securing his grip. The corridor is much like the room they just left, with smooth grey walls and floor, the ceiling covered in strip lighting and white tiles.  The lights are all broken or off, and the flickering quality of the light from Johnny’s fingers isn’t helping soothe Steve’s nerves. They walk on towards the set of double doors at the end of the corridor, pushing through and finding themselves in a stairwell.

“So, going down?” Johnny says casually as he steps up to the railings and looks over, down the stairwell. He whistles through his teeth. “Cap, this goes down – twenty floors at least.”

“Schematics are showing eighteen subterranean levels,” Natasha supplies over the comms. “It’s a research facility, Cap. Definitely looks like Hydra.”

“Just what I always wanted,” Steve grouches. “Barnes, anything?”

“Lots and lots of dead people,” Bucky replies slowly. “Gunshots, blunt trauma. Looks like there was a hell of a fistfight. Barton, anything up there?”

“Giant pile of fuck all. A great view of all the death though.”

“Succinct as always, Hawkeye,” Tony’s voice says dryly. “Thermal scanners are all out of whack because of the temperature fluctuations, Cap. I can’t tell if anything is alive.”

Steve walks up to Johnny, looking down the stairwell. “Alright, keep me posted,” he says, leaning over the railings and looking down the drop. “Storm, let’s go-”

A weak groan cuts through the silence and Steve immediately goes tense, holding out a hand to stop Johnny. They both stay still, listening hard and then there it is again, a weak groan and a cough.

Steve signals Johnny to stay put and slowly walks down the stairs. He gets half way down and beckons Johnny to follow, and as Johnny pads softly down the stairs the light from the flames on his fingers reveals a woman in SHIELD gear slumped against the wall.

“Hey,” Steve says, walking over and dropping to his knees, setting his shield aside on the floor next to him. He reaches for the woman, tipping her chin up and he sees a wound on her stomach, uniform soaked through with blood from hips to chest. Damn.

"Team, I've got a survivor, SHIELD agent, wounded," Steve says, reaching up to touch the comm unit with his free hand. "Patching you through on speakers so you can hear, channel four."

The woman looks up, blinking dazedly, and there’s blood on the corner of her mouth. “Commander?”

Steve shakes his head. “Captain,” he says, and she takes a moment and then in seems to sink in. She looks Steve over, and then lifts weary eyes back to his.

“You got his message then,” she says dully. “I think he’s dead.”

“What happened here?” Steve asks. “Can you tell us?”

She breathes in and out hard through her nose, her body shivering, probably with shock considering how warm the whole place is. Johnny crouches down next to them and Steve feels the searing warmth as he cranks his body heat up, and nods to him in thanks.

“The last stand,” she finally says depreciatingly, eyes fluttering shut. “We were the last ones left. A SHIELD cell, Commander Rogers and Hawkeye.”

“So, who had money on me being the last man standing?” Clint's voice says. “I certainly didn’t.”

“Chatter,” Steve says forcefully, at the same time that Tony tells him to shut the fuck up. Clint doesn’t say anything more so Steve turns his attention back to the agent in front of him.

“What about everyone else?” Johnny asks. “Lady, what happened to everyone else?”

“Working with Hydra, lost or dead,” she says. “God. We lost Iron Man a week ago, thought we’d have one last crack at them. Didn’t go so well.”

“Why? What was here?” Steve asks. Her chin dips again and he nudges it up gently with his fingers.

“They were trying to,” she says, exhausted. She swallows thickly, forcing the words out with obvious and painful effort. “Copy. They were making soldiers.”

Steve swears softly, and hears Bucky do the same. God damn it, will Hydra never get bored of trying to recreate him? Not for the first time he silently curses the serum; it seems that sometimes people desperate to breed super-soldiers of their own cause more destruction than he can ever hope to prevent.

“Where-” Steve begins, but Tony’s voice cuts through, urgent and serious.

“Movement,” he says. “Lower levels. Nine. There’s someone or something down there.”

“Right. Barnes, Hawkeye, is there any way of getting down from your end?” Steve asks.

“Jumping down an elevator shaft as we speak,” Clint replies. “Race you.”

Steve hears the zing of taut wire and the slither as Bucky and Clint presumably rappel down a line to the lower levels. There’s a clang and a muffled thump and the sound of screeching metal, and he assumes it’s Bucky prising open a doorway with his hand.

“Thor, what have you got?”

“Naught but destruction for miles upon miles,” Thor replies. “It is a wasteland. A single road leads to the facility, but I fear the world around us has long been burned.”

“Alright, come back in,” Steve instructs, and looks back to the woman. “Where-” he begins, but stops. Her eyes have closed and her chest is still. She’s gone. He didn’t even ask her for her name.

“Fuck,” Johnny says unhappily, and lets his temperature drift back to somewhere closer to his usual range, leaving Steve’s side feeling oddly cold.

Steve doesn’t say anything. He looks at the agent for a moment longer and then gets to his feet, picking up his shield and slipping it back onto his arm. Johnny stands up too, looking uncomfortable, and Steve opens to his mouth to tell him to move on-

A deafening boom rocks through the facility. Steve and Johnny are thrown off their feet into the wall, and the floor beneath them rocks, dust drifting down from the ceiling. There’s a distant roar that sounds like flames, and a series of rumbling crashes.

Steve grabs Johnny’s elbow, keeping him upright. “Status!” he yells, one hand going up to the unit in his ear. “Everyone, report!”

“We’re fine,” Tony replies immediately. “That came from lower levels.”

“We’re good!” Bucky yells, and Steve can hear Clint swearing in the background, his comm unit not delivering directly.  “Cap, where are you?”

“Stairwell,” Steve replies. “Tony, are you still getting movement?”

“Yeah, a single source,” Tony replies. “Steve, get out of there.”

There’s another distant boom and the whole stairwell shudders again, concrete creaking and groaning ominously. “Barnes, do you have visual on whatever’s moving? What’s down there?”

“Negative,” Bucky pants. “We found you – the other you. He’s dead.”

“Steve, this place runs on nuclear energy, if it blows it will take half the fucking country with it!” Tony yells again, sounding furious. “Leave it!”

“Not a chance,” Steve replies, and runs for the stairwell. “Come on, let’s go-”

“I got this, Cap.” Johnny doesn’t hesitate; he clambers up over the railing of the stairwell and flings himself off into empty air, and Steve hears the yell of _‘flame on!’_ and the stairwell lights up briefly and brightly as Johnny streaks away. Steve makes to follow him but another explosion rocks the stairwell, and this time a chunk of the ceiling cracks free and drops, hitting the floor a metre away from his feet and ripping half the stairwell with it. Raising his shield above his head, Steve staggers, tries to go on, but the floor beneath his feet gives way and fuck, it’s too risky, Tony and Bucky will both kill him if he gets himself hurt-

“Storm, I’m cut off,” Steve shouts, but there’s no reply, and great, Johnny must have fried another comm unit and wasn’t Reed meant to be making him one that he couldn’t incinerate? “Barnes, where are you-”

The floor beneath his feet shifts again and Steve curses and legs it back up the stairwell, dodging a falling chunk of metal and feeling a surge of guilt as he runs past the dead SHIELD agent. The roaring is getting louder and he can only hear odd words coming through the comms; Tony’s urgent voice and Natasha swearing at Bucky and Thor shouting-

Something hard and heavy falls from above and clips the edge of the shield and then his shoulder, sending him crashing to the floor in agony. He gasps, curling in on himself as he waits for the blinding pain to subside, and when it does he’s left with a sharp, angry throbbing in his shoulder, the wet warmth of blood soaking through his uniform.

“Fuck,” he breathes out, keeping the shield above his head. “I’m hit,” he says, keeping his voice level and calm. “Falling debris, think I’ve dislocated my shoulder-”

More pieces of ceiling tumble down, scattering over him like hailstones, clinking off the surface of the shield. He pushes himself up onto his knees and swears as he sees the doors are blocked by a huge slab of concrete. He can’t hear anyone else, just crackles and an occasional aborted rush of sound in his ear-

And then Tony’s voice is shouting in his ear, suddenly and wonderfully loud. “Fuck you, Rogers, why is it _always_ you? I’m on the way.”

“Fall back,” Steve insists, relief coursing through him. “I’ll find-”

“Fuck you,” Tony repeats tersely. “I’m on the way.”

“Found a live one!” Clint shouts, comm flaring back to life. “Cap, we got him, shit, Bucky, grab him quick-”

“Civilian,” Bucky says breathlessly. “Holy fuck-”

The feed crackles and cuts out and Steve swears again, forcing himself to his feet. Oh god, definitely dislocated, and he grits his teeth and wonders how the fuck he’s going to get out-

And over the rumbling and creaking he hears the whine of repulsors, and he lifts the shield with his good arm to cover his face just as the slab of concrete blocking the door is blasted into pieces. Red and gold armour appears, smashing through the remaining concrete with a well-placed knee.

“You fucking jerk,” Tony says matter-of-factly, and walks over and hauls Steve up, an arm around his waist. “The amount of shit you give us for getting hurt.”

“Thanks for the sympathy,” Steve grunts, biting the inside of his cheek as he steps forwards with Tony, shoulder jarring painfully. “Son of a _bitch._ ”

Tony doesn’t reply; he just hauls Steve along the corridor and back into the main warehouse, and as they shove through the doors Thor and Natasha are there, hands reaching out for them.

“Portal ready to be activated in thirty seconds,” Natasha says. “Where’s Storm?”

“I don’t know,” Steve pants. “Bucky-”

“Here!” a voice yells, and Johnny bursts through the door that Clint and Bucky used earlier, swooping down over their heads, extinguishing his flames and hitting the ground running. Bucky and Clint are moments behind, crashing through the door and sprinting over, covered in dust and ash and both bleeding from various places, and Clint is carrying something, a large wrapped up blanket that he’s clutching to his body with both arms, one low and one high in an oddly protective stance.

“Call Reed, let’s get the fuck out of here!” Bucky shouts as they skid up, and glares at Steve. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“What the fuck is that?” Tony responds, jerking his head at the bundle Clint has in his arms, and Thor steps forwards and gently pulls the blanket back, revealing short blond hair and a small pale face. Steve stares in disbelief; it’s a child. They’re in a fucking Hydra research facility, why the hell would there be a kid anywhere near the place?

“We found him,” Clint pants, looking down at the kid in his arms. The kid’s face is white, smears of dirt across his forehead, eyes closed and mouth lax, clearly asleep or unconscious. Clint shifts, hitching the kid higher against his chest. “He’s what was moving. He tried to leg it and Bucky grabbed him and he just sort of collapsed-”

“So you brought him with you?” Natasha asks, looking at the kid’s face intently.

“What the fuck was I meant to do? It’s a kid! Stark said this whole place could fucking blow!”

“Argue later, let’s go!” Johnny shouts as the floor beneath their feet begins to shudder and shake. “Widow, hit the signal!”

Natasha grabs hold of Bucky’s elbow, Bucky grabs hold of Clint and Steve, and Johnny and Thor both take hold of Tony’s shoulders.  Natasha pulls a device off of her belt and flicks a switch on the top and then they’re wrenched backwards in a horrible twist of energy and light, and Steve can only hold onto Tony, shut his eyes and will down the urge to throw up.

 

* * *

 

Steve’s knees give out the moment their feet hit the floor of the portal chamber back on their Earth. He mentally kicks himself, grabbing hold of Tony and pulling himself to his feet, but luckily for his ego, no-one says anything. 

“Everyone okay?” he asks roughly.

“Yep,” Bucky says, and then doubles over and throws up.

Johnny gags, his hand coming up to cover his nose and mouth, and Natasha is out of the chamber quicker than anyone else can blink. Tony and Clint both swear in disgust at exactly the same moment and Thor simply wrinkles his nose and steps back.

“Inter-dimensional travel suits you ill, my friend,” he says to Bucky, who wipes his mouth on the back of his hand.

“Jesus, Barnes, stop puking in enclosed spaces,” Tony snaps, tightening his arm around Steve’s middle and hustling him towards the door.

“Fuck you,” Bucky replies, breathing hard. “How’s the kid?”

“Breathing,” Clint replies, glancing down. “Still KO. He’s freezing cold, too.”

“Where the hell did you find him?” Steve asks, twisting his head to try and look, but Clint has pulled the blanket back up over the kid, his palm resting on the back of his head. Clint is like a damn magpie on missions, always bringing crap back with him, and is this weirder than the time he brought back a velociraptor skull from their trip to the Savage Lands? Steve isn’t sure, but he _is_ sure that he’s possibly going a little bit light-headed from blood loss and pain.

“In the lab,” Clint replies. “There were a bunch of dead technicians-”

“Can we discuss this outside of the puke chamber?” Tony interrupts, pulling Steve forwards and jolting his arm. “Barton, move.”

Clint hitches the kid up again and edges out of the chamber, Johnny following just behind. Tony nods at Thor and Bucky and they leave next, giving Tony space to negotiate the door, which isn’t really wide enough for an armoured suit to pass through whilst carrying a soldier who has the world’s widest shoulders.

“Is this weirder than the time he brought back the velociraptor skull?”

The look Tony gives him is clearly torn between patient and exasperated. “Stop talking,” he advises him. “Did you hit your head?”

“No, I just - son of a _whore_ ,” Steve bites out as Tony eases him though the doorway and his elbow clips the edge, jarring his shoulder. He comes face to face with Sue Storm and feels his face colour. He knows it shouldn’t matter, but swearing in front of a woman still makes him feel oddly guilty. It’s like he expects his mother to be behind him, ready to remind him that he should always treat the ladies with respect.

“Sorry?”

“Oh, please,” she says, looking faintly amused. “Sit down before you fall down.”

Natasha comes up with a chair in hand, setting it down next to Steve. He slides gratefully into it, blowing out a breath. He looks up and sees Reed, Bruce, Coulson, Thor and Johnny all crowded around Clint and the kid, voices and expressions ranging from shocked to astounded to worried.  Bucky is stood over by the window with a cigarette in hand and a towel clamped to a cut on the side of his head, eyes fixed on Clint.

“What happened?” Sue asks, looking confused. “What-”

“A Hydra facility. The whole place was destroyed,” Natasha says calmly, and she gives Tony a nod and slowly moves to stand in front of Steve. Great, shoulder setting a la Natasha, must be Steve’s lucky day. She reaches out for his wrist and gently takes hold. “The only survivor was the kid, so Clint obviously felt he couldn’t leave him.”

“The only survivor?” Sue asks, sounding shocked. “In a Hydra facility? Why was he even there?”

“No idea,” Natasha says, but she always has an idea, her saying she doesn’t just means she doesn’t want to share it. “Steve, try not to tense up.”

There’s a dull clunk and the hiss of machinery, then Steve feels Tony’s bare hand slide onto his head, fingers carding through his hair. Sue’s eyes flick from Steve to Tony and a small smile pulls at the corner of her mouth.

“So, you two are over insulting our intelligence by hoping that none of us would notice?”

Tony shrugs, and Steve just lists sideways and rests his temple against the metal of Tony’s hip as Natasha carefully extends his arm in front of him, one hand on his wrist and the other on his elbow. He hisses out a breath, trying to keep relaxed.

“We thought you’d all insist on talking about it and we couldn’t be bothered,” Tony says easily, holding Steve’s head to his hip with his arm curled around his head, palm on his forehead. “Taking it like a champ there, Steve.”

“That’s what he said,” Natasha says, perfectly straight faced, and Tony chokes on laughter and Steve realises the innuendo just as Natasha lifts his arm straight up in one smooth movement, and there’s the horrible lurching jolt of bone and muscle, a blinding stab and swell of pain accompanied by a horrid, dull, squishy popping noise, and then relief, the pain transformed into a soft ache that feels no worse than a bad bruising.

“Wow,” Tony says, patting the top of Steve’s head. “No swearing. Well done. Mama Rogers would be proud.”

“Mama Rogers would be despairing that I got hurt in the first place,” Steve grumbles, and then Bruce is walking over, looking concerned. He stands up, gingerly moving his shoulder. 

“What’s up, Brucie-Bear?” Tony asks.

“We’re taking the kid to medical at the tower,” he says. “He needs checking over, and Clint doesn’t want to leave him with Reed.”

“Understandable,” Tony concedes, and Steve elbows him with his good arm. Tony scowls at him, jabbing him back with armoured fingers. “Take this one with you too, that shoulder needs strapping up.”

“I’ll be-”

“Shut up Rogers, you have no say in this,” Tony says warningly. “Being a super-soldier just means that you get strapped up for three hours, not three days.”

“Listen to the man, Steve,” Bruce says with a hitched smile. “Come on.”

Steve steps up to Bruce with a bad grace. He hates medical. He’d rather just go feel sorry for himself in his room and eat his own bodyweight in junk food. He glances over at Tony, who is apparently done with hassling Steve and is now heading over to Reed, asking something about nontemporal spatial boundaries and sensitive dependency. Clint and Bucky have already gone, and Coulson is nowhere to be seen either.

Steve breathes out and now he’s not in agony he can actually compute what’s happened here today, it hitting him with a bit of a jolt. “We just rescued a kid from certain death in a Hydra facility in an alternative dimension, didn’t we?”

Natasha pats his elbow comfortingly. “At least it wasn’t aliens,” she offers, and Steve sighs, rubbing at his forehead.

“Somehow I get the feeling aliens would be simpler,” he says, and Natasha quite pointedly doesn’t say anything as they leave the Baxter building and head home.

 

* * *

 

 

“So what’s gonna happen to the kid, do you reckon?”

Bucky looks up at Steve’s question, tilting his head back and draining the last of his can of soda. He sets the can aside and belches loudly, reaching for another slice of pizza. They’ve been back for a couple of hours and are on their fourth pizza between the two of them, sitting on the floor of the rec room with the boxes spread out haphazardly on the carpet. The television is on in the background and the quiet noise and masses of food are going a long way in helping Steve feel human again.

“I dunno. Put him up for adoption? Foster care?” he shrugs, leaning back against the sofa.

“Even if he’s from another dimension?” Steve asks, trying to separate two slices of pizza single-handedly, already frustrated with having his shoulder strapped up against his chest. He huffs, looks around to check Tony hasn’t snuck in whilst he’s been distracted by pizza, and then drops the slice, reaching up to rip the Velcro straps of the support open, pulling it off and tossing it away. He uses both hands to pull a piece of pizza free, folding it over and taking a large bite.

Bucky doesn’t comment, just tosses over a can of coke, which Steve grabs out of the air without a problem. Yeah, it aches a little, but that’s to be expected seeing as a block of roof fell on him. He snaps the can open and takes a deep swallow, making a satisfied noise in his throat as he does. He drains over half the can and then sets it aside, breathing out deeply and leaning his head back against the sofa behind him.

“You know Jarvis tells on you,” a voice from the doorway says, and Steve twists around to see Tony walking over, freshly showered, wearing sweats and a white t-shirt.

“Apologies, Captain,” Jarvis says. “Sir did request I let him know if you attempted to remove your sling.”

“You can’t eat pizza properly with one hand,” Steve says defensively. “You try it.”

“I’d rather not,” Tony hums, and walks over, crouching down and snagging a slice. “Nice of you two to think of your own stomachs before everyone else’s.”

“Super-soldier metabolisms,” Bucky says. “Eat or be eaten.”

“You’re only half a super-soldier,” Tony retorts, moving to sit cross legged next to Steve.

“Which is why Steve has eaten twice as much as me,” Bucky says, saluting Tony with his slice before biting the end off, grinning cockily.

“How’s the kid?” Steve asks Tony. “Is there a plan? Who’s gonna take him?”

Tony doesn’t answer. He finishes his slice and wipes his fingers absently on his knee, brow furrowed and contemplative.

“Tony?”

Tony blinks, breathes out. “I don’t want to say anything to you until we know for definite,” he says carefully, and Steve is immediately on guard. “We’ve been running bloodwork. Tests.”

“Is the kid alright? He ain’t dying or anything, is he?” Bucky asks, sounding alarmed.

“No, he’s alright. Physically fine, as far as we can tell when he's KO'd. In shock, though, so he’s sedated. Bruce is trying to find out everything he can.”

“Which is what, so far?”

“For definite? That he’s a he, that he’s six years old, give or take a month,” Tony says frankly. “The rest is…unconfirmed.”

“What is the rest?” Steve presses, and the look Tony gives him is foreboding in its hesitance and concern, full of something that looks bizarrely like sympathy-

“Sir, there is a situation in the medical wing,” Jarvis’s voice interrupts before Steve can press Tony for answers. “The child has woken and has managed to gain access to the ventilation system.”

Tony scrambles to his feet. “He’s done what?” he asks, astounded. “He’s in the vents?”

“Yes. Agent Barton has gone in after him,” Jarvis informs him. “Doctor Banner is requesting that you and Captain Rogers come down to the lab immediately.”

“Goddamn it,” Tony curses and heads to the elevator. Steve and Bucky exchange a glance and then both drop their pizza, getting up and dashing after Tony.

“I thought you said he was sedated,” Bucky says as they pile into the elevator and Steve slaps at the button to close the doors, Jarvis automatically taking them down the two floors to the medical wing.

“He was!” Tony insists, and he bites his lip, running his hands through his hair. “Shit.”

“What?” Steve demands. “Why are you looking like that? Come on, you’d normally be finding something like this hilarious.”

“Yeah, Clint Barton trying to extract a six year old from the vents is probably internet gold,” Tony says, and Steve recognises evasion when he hears it. The doors open and Tony steps out, and he makes it four strides before Steve catches his elbow, just outside the door to the medical lab. Bucky hangs back by the elevator, eyes narrowed and fixed on Tony, looking as suspicious as Steve feels.

“Tony,” Steve insists. “Tell me.”

Tony presses his fingertips to his mouth, lowers them. “Early tests seem to be showing his genetic data matches yours,” he finally says, and Steve goes very, very still. “He’s showing indicators of the super-serum. Burning through sedatives, raised core-temperature, higher than average unconscious reflexes.”

Steve feels his mind go blank. He stares at Tony without words, unable to comprehend what he’s hearing.

“This is why I didn’t want to say anything until we knew for definite,” Tony says, meeting Steve’s eyes and that empathetic, compassionate look is back again. “Steve, when we were in their systems, we found all their lab records. They were trying to create a better super-soldier, and they used that other Steve Rogers’ genes to do it. It’s looking pretty much like the kid is biologically his.”

Tony takes a breath. “And by the default of the multiverse,” he says awkwardly, “that means he’s also biologically yours.”


	2. Chapter 2

Tony is pretty sure that Steve has gone into shock.

He’s leaning back against one of the counters in the medlab, hands braced behind him and expression completely blank. His eyes are fixed on the open vent but he hasn’t so much as blinked in the last twenty minutes. Yeah, Tony thinks silently with a grimace. Finding out that the child you’ve just rescued is actually the biological son of a version of you from another universe is probably a lot to take in.

They can hear dull thuds and bangs from the inside of the vent and Clint’s exasperated voice trying to coax, bribe and threaten the kid into coming out. God, it’s lucky that this particular vent isn’t openly connected to the rest of the system, otherwise the kid would be long gone.

“Steve?” Bucky’s voice says cautiously and Tony looks over to see Bucky standing next to Steve, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. “Steve buddy, you’re freaking us out." 

Steve doesn’t answer straight away. He swallows, throat moving, and then looks up at Bruce. “You’re sure?” he asks, _demands_ , and Tony resists the urge to go over and touch him. At moments like this, it’s best to leave Steve alone.

Bruce turns to the holographic screen in front of him. “At this stage in the game, we’re…” he pauses, looking at the numbers. “Ninety-four percent sure,” he finishes apologetically, like he knows that it wasn’t what Steve wanted to hear.

“But,” Steve begins and then shakes his head, lips going thin and tight and knuckles white where he’s gripping the counter.

“Fuck!”

The muffled curse word comes from Clint, and moments later there’s a thud and then Clint’s slides headfirst out of the vent, clutching a hand over his nose which is bleeding freely down his chin.

“Super-strength,” he says shakily as Bucky and Steve both run over and haul him to his feet, Bucky grasping his free hand and Steve grabbing his elbow. “Check.”

“What?”

“Fucker punched me,” Clint says though gritted teeth. “Jesus, _fuck._ No normal six year old can pack that much of a wallop.”

Steve hustles Clint over to a chair and sits him down. Bruce is immediately there, pulling Clint’s hand away and examining the mess that’s been made of his face.

“You just got punched by a six-year old,” Bucky informs Clint. Clint gives him the finger.

“Bite me, Barnes.”

Bucky blows him a kiss. “Only if you ask nicely.”

There’s a distant noise that sounds like a strangled scream and banging that sounds like fists or feet being hit against the inside of the vent. Tony exchanges a look with Bruce, because that’s the first actual noise they’ve heard the kid make, aside from the banging.

“Come on, someone go get him,” Clint says thickly and impatiently, gesturing back towards the vent.

“Not it,” Tony says, holding his hand up. “I’m not a match for super-serum unless I’m in the armour.”

“Super-serum in a _six year old,_ ” Bucky grumbles and pulls a face, looking at the vent. “I’m barely going to fit.”

“Well, our only actual super-soldier certainly isn’t going to fit,” Tony says and Bucky gives in with a bad grace and ducks into the vent. Tony hears the slide of his body against the metal, and then the banging suddenly stops, everything going silent.

There’s a bang, another scream, wild scrabbling noises and then Bucky’s feet appear in the vent opening. He edges out, grunting with exertion, metal arm still reaching into the vent.

“Yeah, biting metal isn’t gonna work,” he says, and slides all the way out, hauling the kid by the ankle. He’s three foot nothing of twisting, biting fury; all blond hair and pale skin, wearing a thin grey t-shirt and bottoms that look like hospital scrubs. Tony immediately moves to stand in front of the vent and the kid twists and kicks at Bucky with his free leg, face contorted in anger. He’s making a wild noise in the back of his throat, and he twists around and manages to kick Bucky low in the stomach, yanking his foot free from Bucky’s grip.

Despite the force of the kick being enough to send him back a step, Bucky recovers quickly and makes to grab the kid again, but he hesitates, metal arm pulling back. “Christ, I don’t wanna hurt him,” Bucky curses and the kid looks around and bolts for the door.

“No!” Bruce shouts. “Bucky, get him, don’t let him-!”

Steve moves quicker than anyone, seemingly on instinct. Just in time he steps into the way and snags the kid around the middle, lifting him from the floor. The kid punches him in the chest and then something like anger and fear steals over his face when he realises that it didn’t hurt Steve in the slightest. He screams again, kicking and flailing and trying to scratch at Steve’s face-

“Get his arms,” Tony says, walking over and reaching out to catch a flailing foot. Despite what happened to Clint and Bucky, the strength of the kid takes him by surprise and he’s yanked forwards, unable to hold the wayward limb still.

Steve drops to his knees and sits the kid on the floor, pulling him back against his side and reaching around with one hand to grab both wrists in one palm. The kid is so skinny that he can easily hold both hands securely with one of his own, and his other arm is wrapped around the kid’s middle. Bucky is there in an instant, holding the kids feet down against the floor.

Tony sees the fear and panic on the kids face and feels a rush of pity and sympathy. They have no idea what’s happened to the kid whilst in the Hydra facility, but they know that’s he’s been hurt and woken up in a strange place with people he doesn’t know. He needs calming down now, before he hurts himself.

“Hey,” Tony says and walks over to crouch down next to the kid. His eyes are darting around the room, from Bucky to Clint to Bruce, and Tony snaps his fingers in front of the kids face to get his attention. It works; bright blue eyes shoot to his and Jesus Christ, now he’s face to face with the kid, the resemblance to Steve is _staggering._ Aside from the obviously blond hair, a few shades lighter than Steve’s own, the kid has the same eyes, the same stubborn mouth and jaw. He’s not quite a perfect clone; there are a few subtle differences, but still – there’d be no mistaking him for anyone else’s.

The kid whines in the back of his throat and tries to push forwards, but Steve’s arm is around him like a restraining seatbelt, and he’s not going anywhere fast. Steve’s face is pale and tense and he looks acutely uncomfortable and very much like he’d rather be fighting an army of Chitauri single handed than be here. His gaze is as jittery as the kid’s, periodically looking down at the body in his arms and then darting away.

“We don’t want you in the vents where you can get hurt,” Tony says to the kid. “That’s why we’ve got you like this, sorry about the pin-down but you’ve got crazy hands and you already got Clint pretty good.”

The kids eyes are still fixed on his, and he’s snatching shallow breaths in and out. He surges against Steve’s arm again but he’s stopped trying to wrench his feet free from Bucky’s hands and he’s not growling anymore, so Tony counts it as a win.

“Yeah, that’s Clint over there. Don’t worry about his nose, he’s broken it like a hundred times,” Tony says casually. “And the guy fixing him up is Doctor Bruce. This is Bucky,” he continues, patting Bucky’s shoulder. “And that’s Steve and I’m Tony. We’re superheroes – you have superheroes where you come from? Never mind, all you need to know is that we’ve got you here and you’re safe, alright?”

The kid doesn’t answer, though he does seem to give up on fighting against Steve’s hold. His eyes dart over Bucky,  Clint and then to Bruce, and he seems to shrink back against Steve, shoulders hunching and going tight.

“Bucky, let go of his feet, he’s done kicking,” Tony says and Bucky obliges. The kid pulls his feet up, curling in on himself defensively, and he looks so small and tiny pressed up against Steve’s bulk. He looks around again and then makes a distressed noise, trying to twist away. Steve holds firm though, even though he still looks like about ten seconds from bolting for the door himself.

“Right. Can you talk? You got a name?” Tony asks, but the kid doesn’t answer or even acknowledge that Tony has said anything. “Okay, the strong silent type, I can work with that,” Tony says. “I’ve read a file which says you can speak English, so maybe you just don’t want to.”

He glances up at Steve and Steve looks away, jaw clenching tightly. Tony pauses for a moment, then turns his attention back to the kid.

“I have a master plan,” he says. “It involves taking you out of medical because medical sucks and it smells funny and is way too clean for a six-year old, then we’re going to find you a bedroom to go do small-child things in instead. Sound good? Yeah, that sounds good, if you don’t talk then I’m going to make your decisions for you. Come on Steve and brat, up you get, sitting on the floor is what crazy people do.” 

Tony gets up and so does Bucky but the kid stays curled up against Steve’s side. “Shall I let him go?” Steve asks and the kid jerks violently at the words.

“Nope, keep him held tight, safer for everyone,” Tony says, and he doesn’t miss the frustration that crosses Steve’s face. Tony files the observation away for future reference; he wants so very badly to figure out what’s going on with Steve here, why he isn’t tackling this with his usual optimism and can-do spirit, but he knows the kid’s needs take priority.

Steve slowly stands up, and he swings the kid up easily, setting him on his hip and still holding both hands in one of his. The kid doesn’t protest, just leans forwards and hides his face in Steve’s broad shoulder. Steve’s discomfiture increases tenfold and he looks towards the door, refusing to meet Tony’s eyes.

“Can we go?” he asks tersely, and Tony looks over them both for a moment, knowing it’s an image he’ll never forget. Steve standing tall and holding a miniature version of himself, a kid who in another world would be his _son._ The thought catches Tony somewhere in his chest, a strange sort of twist because frankly, he thinks it’s pretty damn awesome.

“After you,” he says and Steve walks out of the lab without another word. “Guest room on Barton’s floor,” Tony calls after him, and spins on his heel to look at the others as he walks backwards towards the doorway, shrugging theatrically and pulling his best ‘ _what the fuck’_ face.

“Well, this is going brilliantly so far,” Bucky comments and looks at Clint. “I’m blaming you.”

Clint holds his hands up, keeping very still as Bruce finishes taping up his nose. “Hey, I just picked the kid up. It’s Steve’s genes, blame him.”

Tony winces. “Maybe ixnay on the jokes about him being Steve’s for now?” he suggests. Clint and Bucky both glance at each other in a worryingly meaningful way, and whilst Tony doesn’t think they’ll do anything to deliberately annoy or upset Steve, he trusts the Barnes-Barton bromance about as far as he can throw them. “Right. Come on Barnes. Between me and you we should be able to get Steve and his six-year-old counterpart to behave.”

Bucky grumbles, but does oblige and follow Tony out of the room. “Not fucking likely,” he mutters and Tony can’t help but privately agree.

 

* * *

 

Steve has never been the sort of fella who shies away from small kids. He actually quite likes them in all honesty, likes their enthusiasm and happiness and the way they all seem to love the Avengers in ways that adults sometimes don’t. But ending up with an armful of a small child who people are claiming is a genetic result of experiments to clone him is not something he’s really prepared for. 

He follows Tony down the corridor towards the room Tony has singled out, the small guest room tucked in next to Clint’s quarters. The kid is quiet and still in his arms, hands still held between Steve’s and face hidden in his shoulder. As he steps the kid’s feet bump against his thigh and he can’t explain why he doesn’t like it, why it’s making him feel so uncomfortable and awkward.

He deliberately doesn’t look at the kid’s face, because he saw the way Tony’s eyes flicked between the two of them earlier and he’s not stupid, he knows what Tony was probably thinking.

“Here we are, home sweet home, a room with all the modern conveniences and, look at that, no vents.”

The kid doesn’t even move at the sound of Tony’s voice and Steve can’t help but find it horribly frustrating. He’s never seen a kid act like this before, all silent and angry, lashing out physically in such a dramatic way. He’s still a little disconcerted that the kid had actually full-on _punched_ Clint and then bitten Bucky. He doesn’t know much about family dynamics in the 21 st Century but he’s pretty sure that such violence isn’t a staple part of any properly functioning family environment. But then again, a lab in a Hydra facility is definitely not a properly functioning environment, certainly not for a child to grow up in. 

Pushing the door open, Tony holds it open for Steve who walks in and over towards the bed, unsure of what to do. Tony seems to have no such compunctions, and comes close, body language open and relaxed.

“You want to stay with Steve or you want to get down?” he asks, and quite predictably the kid doesn’t move. Tony doesn’t seem fazed though, and it’s starting to irritate Steve endlessly. “Alright, no voice means no decisions, so you can-”

Steve moves before Tony can volunteer him to stand there all damn day, swinging the kid down onto the bed. The kid scrambles away as soon as he’s on the mattress, crowding up to the headboard and shoving the pillows away with a ferocious swipe of his small hand.

Tony gives Steve a flat look and Steve turns and walks away towards the door. He hears Tony huff and his voice right behind him.

“Back in a minute, kiddo, stay still and don’t try anything or Steve will come straight back in, and he will restrain you again if you’re about to damage something, including yourself.”

Steve grits his teeth and leaves the room, wishing that Tony will have the sense to let it drop for now. Predictably, Tony doesn’t, and catches hold of Steve’s elbow just outside the door, pulling him around so they’re face to face. Steve allows the move, even though a stubborn part of him feels like holding his ground to remind Tony that he doesn’t have a hope in hell of stopping him if he doesn’t want to be stopped.

“What was that?” Tony asked, sounding put-out.

“What? You wanted me to put him in the room, I did.”

Tony stares at him, looking like he can’t believe what he’s hearing. “He’s a six-year-old kid,” Tony says pointedly. “And you just dropped him and then hightailed out of there like you had to go save the planet.”

“I don’t know what to do with a kid like that, Tony,” Steve says. “We’re not qualified for this.”

Tony spreads his hands. “Who is?” he asks emphatically. Steve is about to retort where there’s a crash from inside the room. Tony immediately spins around and darts back in, cursing under his breath just loud enough for Steve to hear. Steve steps cautiously into the doorway and he sees that the kid has pulled or kicked over the heavy oak dresser that stood at the side of the bed and is now sitting against the headboard with his knees pulled up and his arms wrapped around them, face hidden.

Tony sighs. “Super-strength. Right,” he says, rubbing at his forehead. “Reckon we should sit with him or leave him to calm down-”

“How the hell should I know?” Steve bursts out, because he doesn’t understand the kid’s behaviour in the slightest. Hell, back when he was a kid he wouldn’t have dreamed of fighting against adults like this kid seems wont to do. None of them would, not even him. Hell, he'd bent and broken every rule he came across but he’d never have socked an adult in the face, would never have even considered _biting_ someone.

Tony pauses and looks at him with an odd expression on his face. “Right, I have successfully interacted with one small kid in my lifetime, which probably leaves me more underqualified than you,” he punctuates his sentence by jabbing a finger into Steve’s chest.  “But I know that he’s been through some rough shit, and I can only think that he deserves us to at least try. Am I freaking out? Massively. Am I going to leave that kid to fend for himself because we’re all emotionally incompetent? No. So you can stand there and pout or you can come join me and help me figure this out.”

And without waiting for an answer, Tony walks back into the room.

Steve breathes out heavily, and then shakes his head and walks away. Tony’s got this covered, and frankly, he doesn’t know what good he could do anyway.

 

* * *

 

“Stop hitting things, you Neanderthal. Here in this century we use words.” 

Steve groans, leaning forwards and wrapping his arms around the punching bag, cheek mashed against the rough material. “Go away,” he grouches. His shoulder aches, a dull throbbing from the earlier injury and the exertion of working over the punching bag. The skin has all but healed, but the muscles are taking longer. “Hitting this is stopping me hitting Tony.”

“I think Tony would quite like to hit you too,” Bucky muses as he walks over. He’s got two mugs of coffee balanced on top of a tablet computer and a giant bag of Cheetos under one arm. “I brought you these, because we all know you’re a hormonal teenager who deals with emotion by comfort eating.”

Steve sends Bucky a dirty look but does deign to push himself off the bag, wiping his sweaty forehead with his hand. Bucky ignores him and goes and perches on the edge of the boxing ring, setting the tablet and coffee down and rolling under the ropes.

Steve unwraps his hands and follows suit, ducking into the ring and sitting cross legged on the canvas, grabbing the bag of Cheetos and tearing it open. Bucky snorts but doesn’t say anything, just leans back on his elbows, crossing his legs at the ankle.

“So,” he says casually. “Hydra scientists are dicks, right?”

Steve shrugs, shoving a handful of Cheetos into his mouth. God, he’s been down here for hours and he’s _starving_. He swallows, reaches for the coffee. “Hydra scientists are always dicks.”

Bucky narrows his eyes at him. “You seem very alright.”

Steve doesn’t answer. He’s not alright and Bucky probably knows it, but he doesn’t know what good it will do to say it out loud.

“Tony made it sound like you were freaking out,” Bucky says cautiously.

Steve makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat as he takes another swallow of coffee. “And what is talking about me behind my back going to achieve?”

“Christ, Steve, unbunch your panties, we were talking about the situation, not about you,” Bucky says and Steve feels more guilt roll through him.

“I just don’t get what he wants from me,” he says helplessly. “He’s happy to work with the kid until he gets taken off our hands, so why does he need me?”

Bucky doesn’t answer, just sips his own drink and then picks up the tablet. He hands it over to Steve, and Steve looks at it with some trepidation, seeing a video already loaded.

“What’s happened?”

“Just watch it,” Bucky says, and shoves the tablet into Steve’s hand.

Steve sets the tablet down on the canvas and presses the play symbol. It starts up and he instantly recognises it as a video feed from the room the kid is in. The kid is still sat by the headboard, now with a pillow clutched to his chest, bright blue eyes visible over the top. Tony is there, sprawled out on his side at the foot of the bed, tapping away on a tablet identical to the one Steve currently has in hand.

“-how strong you are,” Tony is saying vaguely. “I mean, I’ve found it in your files, just says elevated strength, but I’ve got no idea what that means.”

Steve is about to ask Bucky what the point of him watching is, when the kid says something. The word is muffled by the pillow. Tony’s fingers falter on the tablet but he doesn’t look up.

“Sorry, I don’t speak mumble,” he says. “Italian, French, English, you got it. But you’ll have to teach me how to speak mumble if that’s what we’re going for.”

The kid slowly pulls the cushion down from his mouth and when he speaks his voice is an odd combination of quiet pushing into loud and tailing off again, words rushed and choppy like he feels he’s got to blurt them out as quickly as possible. “Stronger than the doctors.”

Tony hums contemplatively at that. “I’ll bet you are.”

“Stronger than you.”

Tony snorts with laughter at that. “Wouldn’t bet on it, Mumble. See, you’re super strong but you’re also six and tiny. And I also have a suit of armour.”

The kid frowns, face scrunching up, still eyeing Tony warily.

“You hungry?” Tony asks after a beat. The kid shakes his head quickly. “Alright. You tired?” Again a negative shake of his head. Tony shrugs and goes back to his tablet, fingers skating over files that Steve assumes are the ones that he pulled on the kid. Tony flicks to another page and then his fingers still.

“So. Been in that lab all your life, huh?”

“Yes,” the kid replies, sounding sullen.

“Just you? No friends, no Mom, no Dad?”

The kid shakes his head marginally again, a quick negative jerk. “Just doctors.”

Tony nods. “You know what happened?”

“That man grabbed me,” the kid blurts out. “The robot one.”

“That’s Bucky, he’s not a robot,” Tony says. “He has a robot arm. Yeah, when we found you the place was dangerous, really dangerous, so we brought you here where it’s safe.”

“He’s really strong,” the kid says suddenly.

“Who, Bucky?”

“No. The-” the kid stalls, as if he can’t find the word. “Like me.” His fingers go distractedly to his hair and Steve realises the kid is talking about _him._ The kids mouth turns down unhappily, face scrunched as he tries to find the words. “Tall,” he eventually settles for.

“Steve,” Tony says casually. “The one who carried you here? Yeah, he’s the strongest guy I know. Don’t tell him I said that though, it’ll go right to his head.”

“Steve,” the kid repeats and Tony nods. The kid’s face scrunches up again and his feet kick restlessly against the mattress. “Said he’d come back,” he says accusatorily, the pillow going back up over his face.

Tony looks nonplussed for a moment. “What? When?” he asks and then comprehension dawns on his face. “Right, yeah. Just before you redecorated,” he says and then his face goes suspicious. “You expected him to come back when you smashed the dresser.”

It’s not a question, and they all know it. The kid wraps his arms back around his knees, refusing to say anything more. The video stops and Steve looks up, feeling wrong-footed and hugely uncomfortable.

“So, he can talk then,” he finally says.

Bucky picks up the tablet, slides his fingers over the video player, looking down at the footage. “Yeah,” he says slowly, then blows out a breath, rubbing at his mouth with his metal fingers. “I don’t think this is going to be as simple as child services coming to pick him up,” he says and Steve frowns. Bucky’s mouth twists. “He’s all hopped up on serum, you really think a normal family could take him in? And he’s from another dimension; he’s got no documents, no paper trail. The only thing he does have is a piece of paper that says he’s genetically linked to _you_.”

Steve freezes, the words like cold water being dumped over his head. “You’re not really suggesting I keep him?”

“I’m suggesting maybe that you’ll have to,” Bucky says seriously.

Steve gets up, not wanting to hear any more. Bucky looks up at him, expression turning exasperated. “Steve!” he calls out, but Steve clambers out of the ring and walks away, wanting to be away from Bucky and the conversation.

“Denial does not suit you!” Bucky hollers after him and Steve bites down on the urge to tell him to fuck off. He feels – hell, he doesn’t know how to feel. This morning he was happily waking up after a night with Tony, answering a distress call with the rest of the Avengers, going on what was supposed to be a simple mission. And now…Steve doesn’t even know where to begin with the now.

He makes his way up to his rooms, the ones he hasn’t stayed in for weeks, not wanting to face Tony until he’s calmed down significantly. It’s like Tony honestly thinks of the kid as Steve’s, when Steve actually hasn’t has anything to do with it. Hell, by the sounds of things the other Steve Rogers didn’t have much say in it either. Shutting the door behind him, Steve walks over to the bed and flops face-first onto it, breathing in heavily and wondering what the hell has happened to his life in the last twelve hours 

He rolls onto his back, arm thrown up over his eyes, asking himself if he’d be acting the same way if the kid wasn’t genetically attached to him in any way. What if it was just a normal kid they’d rescued, would Steve still be so uncertain and lost? Would Tony and the others be acting the same if the kid weren’t linked to Steve?

A normal kid would have been passed straight to SHIELD and then onto child services, Steve reminds himself somewhat bitterly. They would have done the job and finished it, handing him over and then politely enquiring after his progress to check everything was alright.

But this kid is not a normal kid and Steve hates to think about what that means for him and the rest of the Avengers, because like Bucky said, it looks like this is going to be a lot less simple than they could ever have anticipated.

 

* * *

 

 

“So. My bed was missing a super soldier last night. Know where I can find a replacement?” 

Tony grabs a pillow from the edge of Steve’s bed and leans over to hit him on the back of the head with it, the most charitable wake-up call he can currently summon up. Steve jerks awake, head lifting from the pillow, and then grunts at him, rolling over and pulling the covers up over his head.

“Ask Bucky,” he replies from under the blankets, sounding tired and pissed off. “Or get Hydra to make you a new one.”

Tony hums at that and then clambers up onto the bed next to Steve’s form, careful not to spill his coffee as he leans back against the headboard. “I dunno, I think my old one will actually be pretty hard to replace,” he says casually. There’s a long pause and then Steve rolls over, pulling the face he does when he realises he’s being an unreasonable, stubborn jerk. His eyes flicker over Tony, undoubtedly taking in his day-old clothes and tired features.

“Did you go to bed at all?”

Tony shrugs, sips his drink. “Told you, I was missing my super-soldier.”

Steve scowls, rubbing at the corners of his eyes with his fingertips. He looks sleepy and rumpled and Tony wants very much to kiss him, smooth his fingers over the frown lines on his forehead. But he also wants to kick his ass for being a complete and utter moron, and he doesn’t know which impulse will win.

“I didn’t mean for you to not sleep,” Steve says grudgingly. “I honestly didn’t think you’d miss me for a night. It’s not like we officially moved in together or anything.”

“Well I did,” Tony says bluntly. He and Steve will never be attached at the hip – no matter what smartass comments Bucky makes about them being horrendously and unhealthily co-dependent – but knowing that Steve was in the same building and _choosing_ not to be in Tony’s bed, even though it was perfectly possible for him to be, didn’t exactly feel great.

Steve doesn’t reply with words but its okay; he rolls over, burying his face in Tony’s lap and pinning Tony’s thighs under his weight, snaking an arm around Tony’s back in what Tony recognises as a silent apology. He breathes out heavily and Tony slides a hand over the back of his shoulders.

“How’s the shoulder?”

“Fine,” Steve replies and Tony waits for him to broach the current million-dollar subject and ask about the kid, but the seconds tick by and Steve remains silent. His face is turned to the side atop Tony’s thighs, and Tony can see that his eyes are open, his breathing is even. He looks a million miles away.

“So, turns out the kid doesn’t have a name,” Tony breaks the stalemate, running his fingers over the back of Steve’s neck, pressing against the tension he can feel. “We checked his files from top to bottom and they only refer to him as RT dash O four. I’m assuming that’s a batch or serial number or something, which gets me wondering how many attempts they had at cloning their Steve Rogers.”

He purposefully doesn’t say ‘cloning you,’ and Steve notices, his eyes flicking up for a moment before looking back down, gazing across the room. Steve shifts, his chest pressing more heavily against Tony’s thighs, but still doesn’t say anything.

“He’s slept for an hour, not eaten anything. Not broken anything or anyone else though, so I suppose that’s good. There’s a couple of SHIELD doctors coming by to check him over soon. Phil’s calling in a couple of personal favours to keep it quiet.”

“Hasn’t Bruce checked him over?” Steve asks after a moment and Tony counts the question as a win. Steve acknowledging the kid exists is probably the first step in the right direction.

“He doesn’t like Bruce,” Tony says matter-of-factly. “Doesn’t like Bucky either. He seems okay with me, though. And Clint, and you as well.”

Steve just shrugs, one shoulder moving half-heartedly. Tony frowns down at him. Steve is never this disinterested in what happens to the people they rescue, he’s always asking questions and making sure they’ve been taken care of. This time though, he looks like he couldn’t care less and Tony will eat his own armour when a day dawns and Steve Rogers does not care.

“So,” he says, deciding to hit the issue head on. “Bucky seems to think you’re in denial.”

It’s the wrong thing to say. Steve’s head jerks up and he scowls at Tony, back to looking pissed off. “Here we go again. What good does talking behind my back do?” he asks abruptly. “Will you just drop it?”

“The kid is probably here to stay,” Tony replies bluntly. “You’re going to have to deal with it.”

Steve’s expression goes pained for a moment and he opens his mouth to speak, but then the bastard is saved from having to reply by his phone beeping obnoxiously from its place on the dresser. Steve pushes up onto his elbows and grabs it, expression intense.

“SHIELD,” he says. “They need me and Widow to go support a unit upstate.”

“Wonderful timing,” Tony says flatly and Steve’s expression turns irritated.

“I’m still Captain America,” he says, rolling away and sitting up. “I can’t not do my job.”

“Never said you couldn’t,” Tony replies. “I just think-”

He falters, stops himself talking as Steve very pointedly gets off the bed and walks away into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him as he does. Tony lifts his hand and clenches it into a fist, pressing his lips tightly together and knocking his knuckles to his forehead in a frustrated gesture.

“Complete denial,” he says, making an aggravated noise in his throat as he stares at the closed bathroom door, dropping his hand to his lap. Shaking his head, he sets his mug aside and climbs off the bed, heading for the door. He’s got no intention of waiting around for Steve or giving up his precious time trying to coax him out. Frankly, he’s got ten million other things he’d rather be doing and number one is checking in on the kid.

He’s honestly not sure where his whole do-good-by-the-kid streak has come from, but he doesn’t actually care. The kid is just so damn small and hurt and angry, and he’s been through fuck knows what at the hands of Hydra, and he looks _so much_ like Steve that he can’t help but feel it like a punch to the chest. Jesus, he really needs Pepper here to be making Tony-Stark-Has-A-Heart jokes.

It’s terrifying and disconcerting and awesome all rolled into one, sort of like when he flew the armour for the first time, and he really is in trouble if he’s making those sorts of parallels. But he’s Tony Stark and Tony Stark does not balk at a challenge, even if said challenge is finding himself oddly and inexplicably attached to a miniature version of Steve Rogers.

“Breakfast,” he announces as he opens the door to the kid’s room. “It’s what people eat in the morning. You should join us in this noble tradition, what are you looking at?”

The kid is crouched over by the wide floor-length window, blue eyes fixed on the glass and expression wary.  His side is pressed against the wall but it’s clear his attention is on the glass. It’s currently almost completely opaque, the built in shade system turned up high and blocking out most of the light as well as the view.

“People watch these,” he says as he shifts restlessly, rocking back and forwards on the balls on his feet. “When you turn them on. You can see, they stand on the other bit.”

His speech is as halting as ever, words tumbling out with a noticeable lack of precision, like he doesn’t know where to put the natural emphasis when he’s speaking out loud. Tony bets that if he tested the kid’s vocabulary it would be well below average for his age.

“What, like two-way mirrors?” Tony asks and sits on the edge of the bed. “That’s just a window, nothing on the other side but air and the view. Hang on, did you ever leave the lab?”

The kid shakes his head.

“Wow. How to explain this, then,” Tony says. “You were always underground, right? Well, we’re not-”

“I know, I seen pictures,” the kid interrupts, frowning. “Up top. They said I’d go up top when I was bigger. Ten.”

“When you were ten?” Tony muses. “Well, you’re skipping ahead around four years, lucky you. You want to see?”

The kid looks at him for a moment, face mistrustful, then he nods quickly, eyes skirting down to the floor like he doesn’t want to admit to wanting to. It’s bizarre; Tony gets the sense that the kid is warring between what he wants and the urge to be stubborn and refuse to cooperate and wow, flashbacks of _himself_ aged six.

“Right,” Tony says and moves to sit down next to the kid, cross-legged. “This may freak you out a bit. We’re pretty high up. You can see quite a lot.”

The kid again shakes his head. “I seen pictures.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Tony says. “J, hit us.”

And bless Jarvis and his uncanny knack for inference and sensitivity to the human condition, because the window shades slowly fade from dark to clear instead of turning off in the point nine seconds Tony knows it can achieve. Tony‘s seen the view thousands of times and it never gets old, but today he sits and watches the kid’s face as its slowly lit up by the morning sun.

The kid’s blue eyes go wide and huge and amazed and he breathes out and leans so far forwards that his forehead bumps against the glass. Tony can’t help the laugh that falls free from his own mouth because the sheer awestruck joy on the kid’s face is indescribable.

“Look,” the kid says and his palm slaps against the glass, rocking forwards on his heels again. He tilts his head down, looking at the tops of the buildings and roads and busyness below them. His breath fogs up the glass and he tilts his head up, looking at the sky, bright blue and free of clouds. “ _Look._ ”

“I’m looking, I’m looking,” Tony laughs. “God, the look on your face. I should film you and put you on Youtube. RT dash O Four meets the aboveground world for the first time. Next episode, airplanes and kitchen appliances.”

The kid’s face screws up in momentary confusion and Tony could just _die_ because that’s the exact same face Steve pulls whenever they throw a pop-culture reference around that he hasn’t come across yet and something twists in his chest because Steve isn’t here to share the moment with.

“J, snapshot of this and send it to Steve’s cell,” Tony murmurs, because why the hell not.

He knows he’s got a million things to get done today, but even so, he allows himself a few uninterrupted minutes to sit and watch the kid before he has to get down to business.

 

* * *

 

“Sure you’re up for this right now?” 

Steve ignores Natasha’s question, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs at the ankle. The jet dips and lifts and the shield rocks against his thigh, threatening to roll away. He throws out a hand to stop it, not taking his eyes of the tablet in his hand. He is more than up for a mission right now; his shoulder is a little achy but fine and he honestly thinks some good old-fashioned fighting will help him clear his head.

He feels his phone buzz against his hip and reaches down into the pouch to pull it out, eyes still fixed on the blueprints on the tablet. He opens the message with a flick of his thumb and then belatedly looks over.

He stares down at the image he’s been sent, and resists the urge to throw his phone across the back of the jet.

Natasha saunters over, looking over his shoulder. “Cute,” she remarks.

Steve grits his teeth and shoves the phone forcefully back into the pouch, then pulls it out again, turning it off before stuffing it away. “I’ve always been taught to never swear at a lady, but I might have to break that rule and tell you to fuck off.”   

Natasha smiles at that, one eyebrow lifting wickedly. She slides into the seat next to Steve, elbow on the armrest and chin cupped in her palm, appraising him for long moments. Steve lets her; she’s going to say what she wants regardless of what he does, so it’s probably a time saver if he just goes along with it.

The humming of the jet’s engines seems very loud with only the two of them in the back and Steve can feel her eyes on him like sniper-sights.

“You and Bucky would kill each other in a staring match,” he remarks dryly.

“And you and Tony would do the same in a who-can-be-more-evasive match,” she replied without missing a beat. “Though in this case, I am surprised it’s you that’s doing the evading.”

“Can we just talk about the mission, please?” Steve asks half-heartedly.

Natasha nods and for a moment, Steve thinks he’s gotten away with it. “Sure,” Natasha says. “We land, we get off the jet, we take out anyone wearing AIM gear, we get back on the jet. My turn.”

Slumping down into his seat, Steve brings up a hand to rub at his forehead wearily. “I’m asking to be partnered with Clint next time. He just makes jokes.”

“Clint is allergic to seriousness,” Natasha says, perfectly deadpan. “It gives him a rash.”

Steve snorts with laughter, but the amusement quickly fades. He drops his hand to his lap and then reaches out to run the tips of his bare fingers over the smooth edge of the shield. Not since he woke up from the ice – defrosted, he hears Tony snickering – has he felt so lost. Actually, maybe finding dealing with Bucky as the Winter Soldier is up there, but at least then he knew what to do. He had to get Bucky back and everything else was negotiable. This time, however, he doesn’t even know where to start.

Is he responsible for the kid? Should he feel responsible? If he should then why the hell doesn’t he? Tony seems to have taken a shine to the kid already, but Steve just can’t work out how or why.

“My first thought was that we shouldn’t have brought him back.”

Natasha’s admission catches him off guard. He looks her in the eye, trying to work out if she really means it or if she’s just trying to get him to talk.

Deciding it doesn’t matter, Steve breathes out through his nose. “Does that make you feel guilty?”

She shakes her head, red curls gleaming in the light. “No,” she says easily. “I can’t honestly be glad that we did it, but I know it was either bring him back or leave him to die.”

“God, I would never,” Steve says vehemently. “We saved him and that’s what we should have done, so yes, it was the right thing to do.”

“But,” Natasha says calmly, and Steve falters. He presses the heel of his hand to his forehead, trying to order his thoughts.

“I don’t know what to do,” he admits. “I keep thinking about the different possibilities and options and then what we should do, what’s the right thing to do and I just…”

“Tell me the options as you see them. Not how you or anyone else feels about the options, just what they are,” Natasha says, and she’s always been good like this, helping people to sort out and find order in their thoughts when they’re in disarray. Steve never thought he’d be the one needing such an intervention, but he guesses there’s a first time for everything.

“First option…” he says slowly and as he breathes in and out, the thoughts are already slotting into place as if he’s organising strategy or tactics. “We send the kid back. We go back through the portal, see if there is anyone left and hand him over.”

“Possible. Inhumane, but possible,” Natasha muses.

“Right, well, keeping the inhumane options right at the bottom of the list,” Steve says, because even though sending the kid back is technically an option, Steve would rather cut off his own arm than send a child into a warzone. “So the alternative is that we keep him on earth with us. Which means paperwork and lots of legalities, because technically he doesn’t exist here and he’s a minor. But at least he’ll be safe. Well. Safer than his dimension was, anyway.”

He breathes out, rubbing a hand over his mouth. Natasha keeps quiet and he’s grateful, and now he’s on a roll the words are coming easily. “Which leads us to consider what we do if he stays in our dimension,” he says. “We could hand him over to SHIELD. But then what would they do with him? He can’t exactly go to a foster family or up for adoption, unless it’s someone equipped to deal with someone like him. They’d have to keep him until they sorted the paperwork and the practicalities out and that means basically incarcerating him, just like he was before.”

He pauses, touches the shield again. “And frankly, there’s people within SHIELD I don’t trust. He’s got the serum, or some variation of the serum, and we know how desperate people are to get their hands on it. Who’s to say they’ll see him as a kid, not as a super-solider.

“Which leaves us with two options; we keep him, or we find someone else who is capable of taking him in. Xavier, maybe.”

Natasha shakes her head. “He’s not a mutant,” she reminds him. “And the school has pretty tough guidelines. It’s regulated to hell and back with precautions and protocols to keep the public happy. No X gene, no place at the school.”

Steve swears, because that leaves them with only one option. “We’re Avengers,” he says pointedly.  “We spend ninety percent of our time falling out or beating the hell out of things. That’s not a good environment for a child. We would paint a massive target on his back by keeping him with us. Hell, the rest of us get kidnapped often enough. Can you imagine what the public would say if we suddenly turned up with a kid? But then again, like Bucky said - the only paperwork he has in the world is a DNA test that links him to Steve Rogers. To me.” 

“And here is where you begin to go from Captain America to Steve Rogers,” Natasha says quietly and he knows she’s right. The jet beneath them sways and shifts, a slight tremor of turbulence that Steve barely notices. “Captain America has thought about everything rather pragmatically. Now how does Steve Rogers feel about it? 

“He’s not my kid,” Steve says suddenly and it twists in his gut, heavy and uncomfortable. “He’s _not._ It takes more than DNA to be a damn father and I’m _not_ a father. I’m a solider, I’m Captain America – I’m not even married, for Chrissakes. I didn’t plan to have a child, I didn’t make the decision to start a family. It’s not something I can even think about right now, with how my life is. But everyone else is already looking at me like, why the hell aren’t you manning up and taking care of this kid? And Tony-”

He breaks off, shaking his head. “If Tony decides he wants to do something, I can’t change his mind.”

“I don’t think Tony _decided_ to feel attached to the kid,” Natasha says. “I think it just happened.”

“We’ve only just-” Steve begins. “What happened yesterday, in front of everyone. That’s the first time we’ve ever openly acknowledged it and now I’ve got to manage that as well as dealing with this? We’re already at each other’s throats about it.”

A soft voice comes over the intercom, low and quiet. “ _Landing in sixty seconds, Captain._ ”

Pushing herself to her feet, Natasha stretches her hands above her head, breathing in deeply. “Head back in the game, Cap,” she says, and just like that the conversation is over, stowed away until some later point. “I can go alone if you want-”

Steve eyes her flatly and gets up, grabbing the shield and shoving his hands through the strap. “Now you’re _trying_ to get me to tell you to fuck off,” he says and Natasha smiles, quick and easy, before she schools her face back into neutrality and turns to face the back of the jet where the doors will open momentarily. Steve steps up next to her and as they stand side by side, he feels gentle fingers touches his elbow, and Steve is immeasurably grateful for her quiet support. Just having one person who doesn’t seem to expect him to jump right in and deal with the situation makes him feel like the weight on his chest has eased, if only marginally.

“Ten bucks says I can knock out more goons than you,” he shouts as the engines rev up for landing, the hydraulics at the back clunking and whining as the door disengages.

“Keep your money,” she calls back, eyes glinting wickedly. “There’ll be no room for it in my trophy cabinet next to the tattered remains of your ego.”

“Now that’s fighting talk,” Steve grins and the door drops open and hits the ground with a thud, and he shoves all thoughts of the situation back home out of his mind. He jumps from the jet, easily landing on the gravel, eyes already scanning the area to assess the situation. Through the dust whipped up by the engines of the jet he can see a grey concrete bunker around fifty yards away, with a chain link perimeter fence in front of it. SHIELD agents have the place surrounded and there are several black-suited soldiers sitting in the gravel near the fence, hands bound behind their backs and feet also tied at the ankles.

“On me,” he shouts over the whine and roar of the engines, and they jog over to the line of SHIELD agents, watching as more battered-looking soldiers are unceremoniously dragged up from the bunker. One of the SHIELD agents spots them and raises his hand, beckoning them over with a wave.

“What's the situation?” Steve yells over to him, eyes taking in the scene around him. Natasha stands at his side, serenely watching the chaos around them like she's seen more interesting things in her cereal bowl. The wind is whipping her hair around her face, glinting bright in the sun.

“Supposed to be an abandoned nuclear bunker,” shouts back the agent, nodding his head towards the bunker. “Re-purposed by a branch of AIM, it looks like.”

Steve knows all this already; he's read the briefing packet. Instead of pulling a Tony and pointing it out to the man in the most belligerent way possible, he just nods and gets to the point.

“What do you need me to do?”

Natasha turns her face his way, eyebrow raised slightly and Steve doesn’t miss a beat.

“What do you need us to do?”

The SHIELD agent doesn’t comment on the rephrasing, which Steve is thankful for. A tiny smirk graces Natasha's lips, barely enough to notice and Steve knows he's going to have to be on his game today to prevent himself being the butt of Natasha’s jokes on the way home.

“We've cleared three sub-levels, working on the fourth. There's a locked door on the third, leading to what we think is a wing on the south side of the structure. Scans show activity behind it but we're having trouble getting in and we don't know what's behind the door. Barely anyone’s talking and the ones that are don't seem to think there's anything behind it.”

“I could ask,” Natasha says casually, dangerously, lifting her hand and brushing her hair away from her face.

“No, we'll go straight there,” Steve decides and leans towards Natasha slightly. “You can _ask_ whoever we find what they're doing.”

Natasha nods, satisfied. Steve nods at the SHIELD agent and flexes his fingers around the straps of his shield, before setting off at a jog towards the bunker, Natasha on his heels. The agents guarding the perimeter move to let them pass, four of them simultaneously breaking away and following closely, guns drawn and ready. Steve doesn’t object; like the agent said, they don't know what's in the locked down wing so some extra fire-power might be welcome.

“Captain,” the agent on the door calls, dipping his chin. “South wing?”

“On it,” Steve replies. Behind them, there's a mechanical whine and the thudding of the jets engines becomes lower and more pronounced as it begins to power down. Steve leads the way into the bunker and the noise from outside fades quickly, muffled by concrete and earth. It’s cooler inside than out, and now he can hear bootsteps and voices calling out to each other, the bustle of activity below them.

The entrance to the bunker is a concrete channel that slopes sharply downwards, lit by weak fluorescent strip lighting. Adrenaline thrumming through him, Steve jogs down the channel, glad to have a task to focus on, a job to get done. A metal walkway takes the place of the concrete floor after about twenty metres, carrying on horizontally as the concrete floor dips away beneath them, vanishing into the darkness. The sounds here echo around them; the voices and the clanging of their feet on the metal. 

“Left at the end, down the slope to sublevel one,” Natasha's voice says quietly and calmly over the comm unit in his ear. “Can we lose the entourage?”

“No,” Steve murmurs back, unwilling to lose the extra guns of the SHIELD agents, even if Natasha has deemed them unnecessary. “Don't worry, I'm sure they'll leave someone for you to beat up if you ask nicely.”

“You know you sometimes do this thing where your mouth opens and Tony's words come out?”

Steve reaches the end of the walkway, looks left and right and gives the signal to continue. The floor beneath them has all but vanished into the darkness; all they can see is the metal walkway and the inky darkness beneath it, occasional spots of light highlighting other walkways and corridors spreading out in a sprawling underground network.

“Don't know what you're talking about, that's clearly all me,” Steve says and Natasha laughs softly, a breath of sound over the comm link.

“Right, then left and then down the stairwell two floors. Entrance will be in front of you.”

Steve follows her directions without hesitating, along the walkway and down the stairs, ducking into another concrete corridor that appears off to the left the metal stairway. At the end of the corridor are a gaggle of shield agents, standing vigilantly outside a heavy steel door. Two are busy doing something with what appears to be a lock, and the others all look up as Steve and his team approach.

“Captain!” one says, sounding surprised. “You're a sight for sore eyes.”

“Sorry, nice flattery but he's taken,” Natasha says smoothly, edging past Steve and up to the door. The agent's eyebrows shoot up and Steve resists the urge to smack Natasha in the back of her head.

“What's the hold up?” Steve says and the two agents turn away from the lock.

“Just scanning the deadbolt; if we can work out what alloy the lock is made of then we can get the correct-”

Not feeling particularly patient, Steve motions for them to step aside. They both take a wary step back as Steve nods. “Be ready,” he instructs and then lunges forwards and brings the edge of the shield down on the lock in a violent one-armed swing. The lock cracks, the pieces fall to the floor and Natasha and one of the quicker agents are instantly there, shoving the door forwards and bursting inside.

“CODE BLUE! CAPTAIN ON DECK – CODE BL-”

The shield sings through the air and the AIM soldier who was bellowing at his compatriots falls to the floor, knocked out cold. There are two more soldiers in the low-ceilinged room that looks oddly like a cheap office, both in the process of pulling files out of a safe that’s embedded into the wall. The room is in disarray; desks are knocked to the side, papers trampled underfoot. Steve leaps forwards and snatches the shield out of the air, signalling for everyone else to follow.

“Go!”

One of the soldiers flees, files clasped against his chest as he scrambles for a second metal door in the far wall. The other appears marginally braver – or more stupid – and remains at the safe, grabbing the last remaining files. Steve has barely registered the thought that he needs to stop the soldier leaving with whatever the files are and Natasha is over at the safe before he can even open his mouth to give the order. Trusting her to take care of it, Steve leaps over one of the desks towards the second door. He can hear shouting and yelling coming from inside, the sounds of frantic activity. The air inside tastes bitter and acrid, a chemical smoky taste catching in the back of his mouth.

“CODE BLUE!”

“Fuck, it’s the Captain – get rid of it, move, no, just go!”

More shouting comes from beyond the door and Steve sprints towards it. He skids through the door and throws his shield up just in time; there’s the roar of gunfire and bullets pepper the shield with metallic clinks. He ducks down, keeps pressing forwards with the shield protecting him-

 He ploughs straight through the front row of soldiers with a grunt, sending three of them sprawling backwards. More shouting and rapid bursts of fire from behind him; the SHIELD agents have stormed the room. Steve lifts the shield and swings it upwards, catching an unfortunate soldier in a vicious uppercut that sends him flying. He turns on his heel and feels something hot and hard catch him in the back of his shoulder, the same damn one that he dislocated. He grunts in pain but keeps moving, swinging the shield and knocking out another guard.

“Natasha, where are you?” he shouts, lifting the shield to block another burst of gunfire.

“Behind you,” her voice replies in his ear, sounding calm. “Cap, they’re still running with those files, get the files-”

He understands immediately. Slinging his arm to the side to knock a soldier clean off his feet, he looks up just in time to see a figure running through an open doorway, into a third room. The smell of burning is stronger than ever and there’s smoke curling up through the doorway, sucked into the vents before it spreads too far.

The source of the smell quickly becomes apparent. In the centre of the third and last room is an impromptu bonfire and eight AIM soldiers are ransacking the filing cabinets that line the walls, throwing armfuls of files onto it. Two are tearing down what look to be schematics from the walls, throwing them into the flames as well. Their actions are frenetic, as if they’re desperate to get rid of all evidence-

“No you don’t,” he bites out and hurls his shield through the doorway. It hits one guard, ricochets off the wall and hits another in the back of the head. Steve leaps forwards and kicks a soldier straight in the chest, sending him staggering backwards. He snatches the shield from the air and instantly throws it again in an easy underarm motion. It bounces from wall to wall and then neatly back into his hand, knocking out five soldiers on its journey. They all crumple to the floor and he straightens up, surveying the room which is now quiet except for the crackling of the fire, the hissing of the vents and the groans of the soldiers who aren’t quite completely unconscious.

From behind him comes the sound of applause muffled by gloves and he turns around to see the SHIELD agents crowding in the doorway, looking impressed. He fights down a grin and looks at Natasha who simply pushes off the wall she's casually lounging against with a roll of her eyes.

“Your ego is safe,” she concedes, eyes scanning the room. 

Steve laughs, body thrumming with adrenaline. He breathes out, reaching over to slot his shield onto his back with its familiar metallic _click._ _“_ Someone put the fire out,” he calls out, glancing over his shoulder. “See what you can salvage. Someone else check the computer we passed on the way in. Any information on an external drive and to me. These guys need restraining and evacuating – Natasha?”

Natasha marches over to one of the guards who is groaning and struggling to get up, pushing unsteadily up onto his hands and knees.  She crouches down beside him and grabs an arm, twisting his arm behind his back and slamming him face first onto the floor. He lets out a strangled yell, trying to yank out of her grip.

“Code blue,” she says conversationally as the guy whimpers into the tiles. “What’s code blue?”

“I don’t know,” the guy bites out and then screams as she pulls harder on his arm.

Arms folded across his chest, Steve stares down at him and then glances over his shoulder at the two SHIELD agents who are watching, faces somewhere between awe and fear. “There’s still a fire,” he says pointedly and they all nod, hastily moving away, even as the SHIELD agents who did listen first time around jog back in with fire extinguishers.

“Try again,” Natasha says and there’s another strangled scream, the sound of boots scrabbling and scuffing against the floor.

“It’s the Captain, code blue is the Captain!” the guys gasps out. “Let me go, you fucking bitch!”

She ignores the insult, eyebrow lifting like she’s bored. “What other codes are there?”

“Only red. Red is any breach, blue is the Captain.”

“Why do I have a specific alert?” Steve asks, stepping over and crouching down in front of the guy. He snaps his fingers in front of the guys face to get his attention. “Up here. Why me?”

“Answer him,” Natasha says, low and dangerous.

“I don’t know, I don’t know!” the guy says, voice cracking. “We were just guarding the place, the techs weren’t here. They just said that if he – if anyone turned up to – augh, to burn everything, to get rid of everything!”

Steve sighs, sits back on his heels, pressing his palm to his mouth. He lifts his eyes and looks around the room and through the smoke, his sharp eyes spot something on one of the walls that had been covered in schematics. A ripped corner, held in place by a single pin.

Slowly, he gets up and walks around the remnants of the fire and to the wall. He reaches out and tugs the paper free, frowning. It’s got a series of numbers on, a single line of neatly stamped digits.

“What is it?” Natasha calls over.

 Steve turns, lifts the paper to the light and his stomach drops.

 “ _Damnit_.”

Just visible in the light is half a faint watermark, maybe only perceptible to him because of his sharpened sight, but it’s still most definitely there. The remnants of a skull with eight curling tentacles beneath, blank eyes almost seeming to stare back at him.

“Steve?”

He breathes out heavily, still staring at the paper. “Hydra.”

“What?”

Steve turns to her as she walks up, reaching out for the paper and holding it up to the light so she can see. “Hydra,” she mutters. “Alongside AIM?”

Steve doesn’t reply. He’s not sure what’s going on here, but it’s nothing he feels remotely good about. Damn Hydra; the moment they seem to be on top of them they pop up somewhere else, alongside someone else. This time in conjunction with AIM, which isn’t a combination Steve would _ever_ want to face.

“And now they question is, what were they hiding,” Natasha says slowly. “And why were they trying to hide it from you?”

“Were they trying to hide it from me, though? Or were they just – you know. Hating me as they usually do?”

Natasha smiles briefly. “Or that,” she concedes. “Want me to do some more asking?”

“I might need you to,” Steve acknowledges, and looks restlessly towards the smouldering remains of the paperwork, feeling disgruntled. “Burning a paper trail, really? And people call me old fashioned.”

“It worked,” Natasha sighs. “The only way to make sure computer files can’t be stolen…”

“Is to not have computer files,” Steve finishes. “I’m going to go check in with base anyway, tell them what we’ve found.”

“And then back to your other mission, right?”

Steve knows exactly what she’s talking about, and feels his stomach knot up unpleasantly as he thinks about the kid and the situation still waiting for him back home. He breathes out deeply and looks around the room, at the wreckage and the unconscious bodies and he can’t help but shake his head. This isn’t the life for a child to be brought into; he’s one of the busiest, most at-risk soldiers on the damn planet and this mess is just proving his point.

  _I can’t,_ he thinks for a moment, but he’s not convinced. He thinks of Tony, of what Bucky has said, of all the unresolved complications surrounding the situation. He looks around again somewhat helplessly, still standing in the wreckage of the fight, suddenly feeling very lost and very alone. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

By the time he returns from the mission the next morning, Steve can’t even take too much joy in the fact that his ego is very much intact and not in Natasha’s trophy cabinet. He’s exhausted from turning everything over in his mind, trying to work out what Hydra’s presence alongside the AIM soldiers means. It’s frustrating that there’s nothing he can do; he’d stayed as long as possible on site, helping sweep the facility and tie up all loose ends. It had been typical, methodical, cleanup work, not enough to keep his mind engaged and away from thinking about what was happening back at home. He’d found himself constantly wondering what would be happening, what the kid would be doing, if he’d gone to sleep, if he’d eaten anything or said anything; it’d gotten to the point where he’d slipped away from the SHIELD agents for a moment, phone in hand and about to call Tony.

He hadn’t been able to bring himself to hit the call button.

But now he’s back, and he’s now so tired and fed up with himself that he doesn’t actually want to talk to anyone. He’s also hungry and aching all over; his shoulder is throbbing dully and he’s half tempted to actually go to SHIELD medical to avoid having to face Tony and the others, but then that would mean having to actually go to SHIELD medical. To hell with it; if he’s cut and bruised it’ll heal. If he’s been shot, well, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s asked Bucky to dig a bullet out of him without telling anyone.

Going to lie low in his quarters seems like his best plan at the moment. He’ll have to get Jarvis to get Bucky to come up, and more than likely then have to bribe Bucky into fixing him up and keeping his mouth shut.

Slotting the shield onto his back, he heads for the elevator, acknowledging that despite being injured and the situation still being completely unresolved, he is feeling much calmer than he’d been when he’d left the previous day. He briefly wonders whether he should personally inform Tony that he’s back or leave Jarvis to do it, and then the elevator doors slide open to reveal Clint about to step out, and just like that all of his plans are scuppered.

“Shit! Steve! You’re back!” Clint exclaims, and immediately steps backwards, hopping back into the elevator and motioning for Steve to join him. He’s got a strip over the bridge of his nose and a pretty nasty looking black eye, painful looking mementos of his run in with the kid yesterday.

“Well spotted,” Steve nods. “Everything okay?”

“They could probably do with you in medical,” Clint says promptly, punching the button to send the elevator up. Steve feels his stomach sink, and in one swift moment he’s back to feeling exactly how he did before he left.

“What’s happened?”

“Small-You is objecting rather forcefully to the SHIELD medics,” Clint informs him. “And the only one strong enough to pin him down is Bucky, and he doesn’t seem to like Bucky much, either.”

“Why does he even need pinning down?” Steve asks, frustrated. “I thought Tony had it under control.”

Shaking his head, Clint taps his foot impatiently against the floor. “He did. Kid’s been quiet since yesterday, sat around with a wounded look on his face for the most part. But then the medic turned up about an hour ago and…”

Clint mimes an explosion with his hands, and Steve tenses, wondering how bad it is, if anyone has been hurt. Something must show on his face, because Clint steps back, holding up a placating hand.

“Hey, if it’s that much of a bother, I’ll go tell them you had to be somewhere,” Clint says neutrally, and Steve is grateful for the lack of judgement in the tone. “We’ll just, I dunno. Knock him out or something.”

A flash of guilt flickers through Steve. The kid doesn’t deserve sedating just because he doesn’t want to deal with it. God, he really, really doesn’t want to deal with it, but-

His thoughts are cut short as the elevator doors slide smoothly open. He hears a crash, a scream, lots of yelling and then the small figure that was in the process of tearing down the corridor towards the elevator hits his legs with considerable force. The kid staggers backwards, looks up and then lets out an angry shout, shoving hard at Steve’s legs with his hands. His small face is covered in angry tears, and he looks hot and sweaty and like he’s been at this for quite some time.

Without a word Steve stoops down grabs the kid around the middle, swinging him up onto his hip. He manages to catch both flailing fists in one hand and yanks them down. The kid kicks out, throwing his weight backwards in an effort to get free, but Steve isn’t giving an inch, holding the kid tight around the middle and keeping him firmly clamped to his side.

“Stop,” Steve says, and the kid makes a distressed noise and meets Steve’s eyes, blue on blue. “I’m not letting you go, just stop,” Steve repeats, and then the kid bursts into tears and flings himself forwards, burying his face in Steve’s shoulder.  One small, sweaty hand slips free from Steve’s grip and he goes to grab it again, but the kid simply brings his arm up over his forehead, all the better to hide his face.

“Nice timing,” a voice says, and Steve looks up to see Tony, Phil Coulson, and a SHIELD medic in the corridor. The SHIELD medic looks breathless and a little rumpled, whereas Phil looks relaxed and as immaculate as he always does. Tony is holding an ice pack to the back of his head, looking at Steve like he’s immeasurably grateful that he’s back. That’s disconcerting in itself; Steve expects Tony to be pissed about how abruptly he left yesterday.

“What happened to you?” Steve asks Tony, trying not to think about the kid who is still crying noisily into his neck. He’s all the back to not knowing what to do – his instincts are shot to hell, all tangled up with everyone else’s expectations and the weight of the convoluted feelings he has towards the situation.

“He knocked me over,” Tony says with a dismissive shrug. “Kid is like a linebacker.”

“Shall we take this back to medical?” Phil suggests calmly, and Steve braces himself for a violent reaction on the kid’s part, but he’s gone oddly and explicably compliant. No kicking, no punching, no attempts to get free. Still not quite trusting this new level of acquiescence, Steve takes a careful step, and then when the kid doesn’t fight back, takes another and another and heads back into the medlab, Tony following right behind him.

Bucky is there, standing in front of the vent that the kid had previously escaped through. He looks pissed off, but when he spots Steve his eyebrows shoot up and he nods contemplatively, looking moderately impressed. Steve knows him well enough to figure that looking ‘moderately impressed’ is actually Bucky for ‘wow, seriously impressed.’

“The cavalry has arrived.”

“Shut up,” Steve replies shortly, and turns to face the others. “Where do you want him?”

The SHIELD medic steps forwards, pushing her long black hair out of her face. “On the bed, please, Captain,” she says. “He can sit on the edge, that’s-”

The sentence doesn’t get finished; the kid shouts out a choked noise that sounds suspiciously like a strangled ‘ _no,_ ’ and his feet start kicking again, thrashing wildly. The hand that had been covering his face lashes back and Steve moves on reflex, clasping it once again it in his own. The kid tries to wrench free, kicking Steve hard in the thigh.

Steve’s sense of self-preservation tells him that he should put the kid down and step back, because the kid quite clearly does not want to be anywhere near him anymore. However, another instinct has him holding on tightly, because if the kid is pinned to his side then he can’t hurt himself or anyone else.  In a heartbeat, the medic is there at his side. “Don’t let go,” she quietly instructs. “Keep hold of him.”

“Easier said than done,” Bucky’s snorts from behind them, but Steve and the medic both ignore him. The medic gives Steve a meaningful look and Steve capitulates and holds firm, and the kid soon stills once more. He goes limp in Steve’s arms, breathing heavily against Steve’s uniform.

“Okay, there we go,” the medic says, and smiles at Steve. “You sit down with him.”

Resigning himself to be stuck here for the foreseeable future, Steve nods, reaching over his shoulder with one hand and tugging the shield free before he sits down, propping it up against the edge of the bed. Now the kid has stopped screaming and crying it’s gone very quiet, and Steve is suddenly and uncomfortably hyper-aware of everyone’s eyes on him. Bucky is  looking at him with a blatant ‘rather you than me’ expression back to looking impressed, Clint is looking relieved and visibly impressed, and Coulson is standing in the doorway and looking quietly contemplative. It’s the look on Tony’s face that Steve doesn’t want to acknowledge though; it’s the small quirked smile that he wears when he’s pleased by something, the something usually taking the form of getting his own way.

Trying to ignore the way he can still feel everyone looking at him, Steve slowly and carefully shifts the kid around, not wanting to set him off again. It’s like handling explosives, and what does it say about him that he’d honestly rather be dealing with a bomb right now than be here, forced into this situation?

The medic perches on a stool and scoots over to where Steve is sitting. “Thank you, Captain,” the medic says with another smile, and Steve looks away from Tony. “I’m Agent Vasquez.”

“Nice to meet you,” Steve says, and when he hears Bucky snigger he knows it probably didn’t come out as genuinely as he intended.

She either doesn’t notice or ignores him. “Right, far too many people here,” she says. “If you aren’t immediately helpful, go and find busy work. And someone bring us some coffee and some juice.”

“Coffee. On it,” Bucky says, and pushes off from the wall. On his way out, he grabs Clint by the elbow and pulls him backwards through the doorway. “Barton, come and be my glamorous assistant.”

“Jeez, I’m forced to wear a dress _one time_ and suddenly I’m your glamorous assistant?”

“What’s sudden about it? You’ve always been my assistant.”

“Fuck you, Barnes.”

“I told you, only if you ask nicely.”

Phil pauses, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers as Clint and Bucky’s voices fade down the corridor, still bickering. Tony looks like he’s trying his very best not to laugh, and Steve makes another mental note to not let Bucky and Clint be left unattended for any longer than he strictly has to.

“I think I’ll go and check in with Agent Romanov and pretend I didn’t hear that,” Phil says. “I’ll meet you when you’ve finished, Vasquez.”

“Alright,” the medic says easily, and she leans back and picks up a clipboard from the counter, eyes flicking side to side as she reads. It goes quiet again, the only sounds the kid’s ragged breathing and Tony’s soft footsteps as he walks closer.

“Thanks,” he says quietly to Steve, and Steve can’t bear how genuine his tone is.

“What was I meant to do, let him run off?” Steve replies, and he knows how abrupt his tone is but he can’t do much about it. “Didn’t have much of a choice.”

Folding his arms across his chest, Tony leans back against the counter, eyes locked on Steve. His jaw is set and his eyes are bright and full of some determined intent which Steve normally associates with them either having spectacular sex or a fight. Considering the situation, he knows it’s going to be the latter unless one of them back down soon.

“No, I don’t think you do,” Tony says quietly, and the words hit Steve like a physical blow.

It’s only his own determination to do the right goddamn thing that keeps him sat where he is with the kid on his knee, despite the twin urges he feels to punch something and get up and leave.

“So, I’ve got lots and lots of wonderful data all about his genetic make-up and projected abilities, but next to no commentary on anything else,” Vasquez says vaguely, and if she’s aware of the tension in the room she’s doing an admirable job of pretending she doesn’t. “Maybe we should just start from scratch?”

“Knock yourself out,” Tony shrugs as she tosses the clipboard aside and reaches for a Starkpad, flicking it on with long, delicate fingers.

“Okay, so if I create a new file here,” she says, and her voice is calm and clear and soothing. “Damn. First thing is a name. Do you have a name, little one?”

“No, he’s just-” Tony begins, but Vasquez silences him with a look and a stern pointing finger.

“I’m not asking you,” she says, and turns back to Steve and the kid. “Goodness me, does he ever stop talking?”

Tony’s mouth falls open in affront, but Steve’s too angry at him to find it funny. Luckily, Vasquez doesn’t seem to need an answer, just looks back down at the Starkpad and taps something else. “Name can wait,” she says. “Right, little one. I know you don’t like the doctors, and that’s okay. I don’t like doctors either. What I am is a medic, and we’re very different to doctors. Doctors always want to poke and prod and find out how you work, am I right? But that’s not my job. I just help people when they get sick. I don’t care what you’re made of, as long as I can make people better." 

Anger at Tony not forgotten, but momentarily side-lined, Steve holds his breath in his chest as the kid slowly lowers his arm and then turns his face to the side. His cheek rests against Steve’s shoulder, blue eyes on Vasquez.

“Here, can you read?” she asks, and holds up her ID pass. “Look, that’s my name, Anna Vasquez. And this says SHIELD, that’s the people I work for, and that says medic.”

“Don’t look like doctors,” the kid mumbles, frowning. A small hand comes up to rub at one of his red eyes.

“That’s because I’m not,” Vasquez agrees easily. The kid’s eyes narrow and he twists up to look at Tony.

“You said she’s a doctor.”

Tony winces, holding his hands up. “Guilty. Sorry, bad choice of words. I got mixed up.”

“Should have sent _you_ on coffee duty,” Vasquez says, and turns back to the kid. “Is he always this silly?”

The kid’s eyes flick to Tony and then he slowly shakes his head, and for the very first time, Steve sees the ghost of a smile play around his mouth. It makes the kid look much, much younger and more vulnerable, and when Steve glances up Tony is looking at the kid with an unmistakably fond expression. He hates how uncomfortable it makes him feel. Tony should _not_ be getting attached; they haven’t even decided what they’re going to do with the damn kid 

The kid heaves a sigh in and out, and then the hand that was rubbing his eyes drops to Steve’s chest, fingers tracing over the star on his uniform, outlining the edges and prodding at the points.

“Why you got a star?”

Steve is taken aback by the question being directed at him. The kid presses his hand to the star, spreading his fingers out in an effort to cover it. His hand is barely big enough, and Steve can only feel the slightest of pressure through his suit.

“It’s my symbol, I guess,” Steve says slowly. The kid doesn’t even seem to acknowledge the answer, and his fingers move across Steve’s uniform, plucking at one of the buckles. Conversely, now he’s calmed down from his earlier fear and anger, he seems more restless, eyes and hands never quite still. Bizarrely, it reminds Steve of Tony.

“Fidget,” Tony comments dryly. “That can be your new name.”

“No,” the kid mumbles, and ducks his head back down against Steve’s arm. He looks tired, Steve thinks, and catches himself wishing the kid would fall asleep so he can put him down. That thought in turn makes him feel horrendously guilty and he wishes he could escape again, get away from both the confusion and the look on Tony’s face. He can feel himself trying to distance himself from the situation all over again, wanting to push away.

God, this would be easy if only the kid weren’t linked to him. That much has become clear in the last twenty-four hours; that his discomfiture is coming from the fact that it’s down to _him._ Jesus, why couldn’t it have been Tony that Hydra was trying to clone?

Though maybe if the tables were turned and the kid was actually biologically linked to Tony, then he wouldn’t be handling it as well as he appears to be doing. When all is said and done, the only person who could be in any way obliged – forced – to take the kid is Steve.  Not Tony, not the Avengers, not anyone else.

“Coffee, coffee, coffee and juice,” Clint’s voice calls, and he walks slowly in through the door with three mugs of coffee clamped in his hands and a purple plastic Hawkeye cup balanced on top of his head. Tony stares at him for a moment and then walks over, shaking his head 

“You are an idiot,” he says, and reaches up to take the cup off of Clint’s head. He looks into it and appears satisfied, holding it out to the kid who hesitates and then shakes his head.

“There if you want it,” Tony says, and puts the cup on the counter, eyeing it flatly. “A Hawkeye beaker? Really?”

“Bootlegs are the best,” Clint grins as he sets the mugs down on the counter next to the beaker. “It makes me look heroic and dashing.”

“How are you a superhero?” Tony demands, snatching up his mug of coffee and inhaling deeply. “Seriously, whose idea was that?”

“And this is why you are my favourite,” Clint says to Steve, holding out a mug for him to take. “You appreciate my talents.”

“Thanks,” Steve mutters, keeping hold of the kid with one arm and taking the proffered drink with the other. It’s strange really, how he can go straight from a mission and settle straight back into the domesticity of life with Tony and the rest of the Avengers – because that’s the only word he has for it, and it’s true; they drink coffee together, have meals together, watch television together, including fights over what they’re watching and who has the remote. Though if he’s honest, he never imagined their dysfunctional domesticity to ever involve him having a coffee in one hand and a kid in the other.   

Job done, Clint shuffles back and hops up onto the counter, the back of his sneakers hitting the front of the cupboards with a thud. He looks around and then picks up the clipboard, eyeing it speculatively.

“R, T dash O four,” he reads, pitching his voice deep and low and making it sound like an announcement.  “Dude, we gotta get you a better name than that.”

The kid looks at Clint, and then he shrugs, fingers back to picking at the stitching of the star on Steve’s uniform.

“What were you called in the lab?” Tony asks curiously, and the kid hunches down, shoulders lifting.

“Four,” he mumbles.

Steve refuses to meet Tony’s eyes, even though he knows Tony is trying his best to get Steve’s attention. “You want to stick with four?” Tony’s voice asks. 

The kid just shrugs unhappily.

“How about we help you pick?” Vasquez suggests. “I bet you've not met many people before, so you probably don’t know many names, right? How about Jack? John? David?”

The kid blinks at her and then shakes his head marginally.

“Anthony,” Tony suggests with quirked eyebrow, and again, a minuscule shake of the head, short blond hair ruffling against the star on Steve’s chest.

“Clint,” Clint chips in, catching on. “James. Phillip. Steve. Frederick. William. Christopher. Sebastien.”

The kid shakes his head at every suggestion and Tony pulls a face. He hooks his ankle around the metal leg of another chair and drags it close, sitting down next to Steve’s knees. Steve feels anger spike through him and fights it down; Tony knows he’s pissed at him and he also knows Tony is deliberately getting in his space, reminding Steve that they’re far from done with their argument. And people assume that it’s _Steve_ who is the one who’s too stubborn to back down from a fight. 

“Oh come on, give us something to work with here,” Tony says to the kid. “Short or long?”

“Short,” the kid says, and Tony claps his hands together, looking pleased.

“Progress, there we go, that’s what I like to see. Short names it is. Eli. Joe. Luke. Frank.”

The kid shakes his head again and again, and Tony is biting back a smile that looks oddly affectionate. Steve stares at him for a moment, because he knows that Tony isn’t at all what the press makes him out to be, but that genuine look of fondness and warmth is decidedly unexpected. He looks down, swallowing hard. He guesses it’s not that the look is unwelcome; it’s just that if Tony is finding it so easy to see the kid like that, why the hell can’t he?

“Arto,” Clint suddenly calls out, and all heads turn to face him. He holds up the clipboard, tapping at the box where the kid’s reference is stamped. “R, T, O,” Clint says, simply. “If it’s anything it’s Arto.”

The kid stops shaking his head and looks at Clint, and then for some unknown reason up at Steve. “Arto?” Steve repeats cautiously, and the kid turns his face away again and then nods into Steve’s chest.

“Arto it is,” Tony says, nodding approvingly. “What’s that, Scandanavian? Hmm. Suits you." 

“Arto,” Vasquez agrees. “Right, Arto. What I need to do today is just look you over and check you’re all fit and healthy. I’ll just ask you some questions and you can either show me or tell me. I won’t need to touch you today, so that’s all good. It would really help me out if you could move over and sit here for me.”

The kid – Arto, Steve brain helpfully supplies – looks over. “No-” he tries, and then points to the cart that’s got all the medical supplies on, before looking up at Steve. “No stuff.”

Steve looks at him, taken aback, and then at Vasquez. She lifts her brows, giving him a meaningful look.

“No stuff,” Steve says, and Arto shifts, wriggling back into Steve’s side and looking at Vasquez with his expression almost defiant. It’s as if he’s somehow seeing Steve as in charge, and is almost using Steve as protection against the things he’s still unsure of, trusting that Steve’s word will be enough to keep him safe.

“Right you are, Captain,” Vasquez says easily, and Steve feels small fingers on the skin of his wrist, searching and reaching. Something strange curls in his stomach, not quite discomfort but not far enough away from it either. He doesn't pull his hand away though; for whatever reason the kid is finding something he needs in Steve's presence, and that means Steve is going to stick with it, try to ignore the twisting mess of emotion and just be there for the kid. The fingers move across the back of his hand and then slowly curl around his thumb, tight and warm, and Steve swallows hard.

“Okay, no stuff today,” Vasquez continues. “When I next come back I’ll need to check your eyes and ears and listen to your heart, but not today. Right, if you could sit here on the edge of the bed, that would be a massive help.”

Arto pauses and then once again looks to Steve. Steve immediately nods, and then feels horrendously guilty as Arto slowly, slowly shifts himself off of Steve’s knee and sits on the edge of the bed next to him. “Thank you Captain,” Vasquez says, already holding up her right hand. “Now, copy me. I bet you can’t do this.”

She flexes her fingers, bending them at the knuckle one after the other, and Arto watches carefully and then copies her perfectly. Steve’s brows draw together because _dammit_ , he wanted the kid off his knee and now the kid has moved because he _trusts_ him and his words, because he feels safe with Steve.

“Atta boy,” Tony grins, and Arto looks up and scrunches up his nose, looking pleased. Tony looks up at Steve as if on reflex, still grinning, but the smile fades as he looks Steve over. Steve opens his mouth to try and say something, to try and ask for help, for anything, for reassurance. For one fleeting moment he thinks Tony is going to acknowledge that he's doing his best, that he's _trying_ , but before the words take shape Tony looks at Steve hard and then his lip curls and he shakes his head fractionally as if he’s _disappointed_ , and Steve is a hundred and ten percent done.

He climbs to his feet, grabs the shield, feeling like Tony just stamped right on his goddamn heart. Arto looks up at him, and Steve nods. “I’ll – I won’t be far away,” he says, and Arto blinks and his face scrunches up in an almost smile. Steve walks out of the room without looking back.

 

* * *

 

 

Tony can’t remember the last time he felt so unbelievably furious. 

He watches Steve walk out of the room, shield in his hand like he’s going off for a fight, resisting the urge to throw something at the back of his stupid fucking head. He takes a deep breath in through his nose and forces the anger down, instead watching Arto who is now demonstrating what looks like a high level of ambidextrousness by flexing the fingers of his left hand in a pattern copied from Vasquez.

“So. That all seems horribly awkward,” Clint says cheerfully. He’s still perched on the counter, leaning back and in the process of carefully balancing the Hawkeye beaker on his forehead. He carefully lets it go and spreads his hands out, making a triumphant noise as he does. “Check me out!”

“Yes, well done Barton, you now have yet other useless method of drinks transportation to add to your busboy CV,” Tony says, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. “What is his problem?”

“Erm, is that a trick question? I feel like it’s a trick question,” Clint replies vaguely, far too preoccupied with sliding cautiously off the counter to stand up, head still tipped back and cup still on his forehead. “Hey Arto, check me out.”

Arto looks away from Vasquez to Clint, eyes lighting up. It’s just like the expression that had crossed his small face when he’d seen out of the window for the first time.

“No, no,” Tony interjects. “Barton, you are _not_ a role model. Arto, you are a more responsible member of society than Clint and you don’t even have a surname or social security number.”

Clint reaches up and snatches the beaker off his forehead, looking wounded. “Oh, Stark, words hurt,” he says, and then wiggles the beaker at Arto. “Want to try?”

Arto nods eagerly and wow, he’s like a completely different kid to the angry one that had tried to demolish the medlab not twenty minutes ago. Tony exchanges a glance with Vasquez who just smiles quietly and shifts her stool back slightly, watching the interaction with interest. Tony looks back at Arto, at how wide his eyes are, and realises that this might be the first time that Arto has ever seen adults like this, as opposed to lab technicians and scientists. Not that the Avengers are representative of the normal adult population by any stretch of the imagination, but at the moment they’re the only adults that Arto has got. 

Clint steps forwards. “Only if you drink half of it. It’s too full for amateurs to try.”

Arto takes the beaker without a hesitation. “What’s amateur?”

“Er, someone who’s not great at something yet. Giving it a go for the first time,” Clint shrugs, watching as Arto drinks some of the juice without question. Tony watches as well and grudgingly thinks that maybe sometimes he doesn’t give Clint the credit he deserves.

“There we go,” Clint says, and takes the beaker back. “Now. Head back and sit still. Hands.”

Tony watches as Clint gently tilts Arto’s head back, one palm cupped around the back of his head, the other holding the cup in place as Arto’s small hands come up to hold it in place. Arto’s expression is one of abject concentration and once again Tony is struck with the resemblance between him and Steve.

“This might be a good moment for you to go and deal with the taller one,” Clint says carefully, hands still cupped around Arto’s. “I got this.”

“Thanks,” Tony says shortly, and Clint looks up, eyes him for a moment and then nods, before turning back to Arto. He looks at ease with Arto now that he’s calm, and despite the grief that Tony gives Clint on a daily basis he does trust him. Hell, he pretty much trusts all of the Avengers in the tower with his life; he’ll just have to trust them with the kid as well.

He leaves the medbay, heading for the elevator. “J, tell me if anything happens with Arto,” he says, the name already familiar and easy on his tongue. “Any wobbles, any facial expression that isn’t completely okay.”

“Of course,” Jarvis replies easily as Tony gets into the elevator. “Shall I include trips, falls, sneezes and coughs onto the alert list?”

“Sassy bitch,” Tony retorts. “Trips and falls, yes. Sneezes and coughs, not unless he breaks something as a result of the sneezing or coughing. Find me Steve, baby.”

“Captain Rogers is in the communal kitchen,” Jarvis says as the elevator begins to move. “He is currently engaged in an argument with Director Fury.”

“What?” Tony yelps, and doesn’t even bother to hide his indignation. Fucking _spies_ – somedays Tony _hates_ Nick Fury and the way he seems to always pop up at the most inappropriate moments. “How the hell – why am I not told these things?”

“You did request that I stop telling you whenever people entered the tower,” Jarvis drawls. “I recall something about the tower ‘becoming a god damn hostel, might as well install a god damn revolving door in the lobby.’”

“One, stop playing recording of me back at me during arguments, that’s unfair advantage,” Tony says pointedly. “And two, make an exception for Fury, always make exception for Fury-”

Tony abruptly stops talking as he steps out of the elevator. He can hear raised voices already, the argument Jarvis was referring to obviously already somewhat heated. Four quick strides and the communal kitchen is in view, and so are Steve and Fury.

Steve is sitting at the island counter, leaning back in a chair with his arms folded across his chest. Tony can only see his profile but it’s enough; he looks thunderous and like he’s about to start knocking heads. It’s not a look Tony tends to associate with Captain America; no, that face is all Steve Rogers, which doesn’t bode well for this situation. In contrast, Fury is looking remarkably calm. He’s standing at the other end of the island counter, leaning forwards with his hands braced on the countertop. Dammit, Tony didn’t want SHIELD involved with this at all, beyond the furtive poaching of a medic or two. Shit, how did Fury even find out?

“-don’t care what Agent Coulson said, this is a SHIELD matter. You should have informed us the moment you brought home a life form from another dimension.”

“Sorry, must have misread subsection three A in the SHIELD guide to bringing home life forms from other dimensions,” Steve says, eyes fixed on Fury, so intense he hasn’t noticed Tony standing on the edge of the room.

“Don’t start, Captain. You know that protocol says that any person, creature, plant or goddamn speck of fairy dust from another dimension has to be handed over-”

“I am not handing him over to SHIELD to be used as a lab rat!” Steve snaps back, and Tony feels a fleeting swell of fierce pride in his chest. That’s his Steve saying that; doing the right thing even if it’s not what he wants. It’s what Tony has wanted to see from Steve ever since they found out that Arto is biologically his-

“Well what exactly _are_ you going to do with him?” Fury asks, one eye boring into Steve and now well into exasperated. “Adopt him? Raise him as your own?”

“No.”

The word is out of Steve’s mouth without a moment’s hesitation, and Tony feels the smidgen of goodwill he was feeling towards Steve vanish like a fuse blowing.

Tony’s body moves without his mind’s permission. He strides forwards, hot anger driving him. “Might want to get over that,” he says clearly, and Steve whips around to face him. Fury lifts his eye towards Tony, expression giving nothing away.

“Tony, back off,” Steve says, tension radiating from every inch.

“No, not gonna happen,” Tony says, so far beyond angry now that he can barely comprehend it. He’s going to fucking take the shield from Steve and name Clint fucking Barton the new Captain America, because Clint is probably the only one of them currently not being a complete and utter selfish jackass. "You are being a dick."

"I'm _trying_ ," Steve bites out. "Tony, I'm trying, you know I am, I'm just-"

 "You're not trying hard enough."

“Stop,” Steve snaps at Tony, and his neck is turning a blotchy pink in the way it used to when they were in full on fight mode, back before they fell into bed together. “Stop pushing to get what _you_ want.”

“Fuck you,” Tony replies tersely. “This is not about what I want, it’s about what’s right-”

“I don’t _know_ what’s right-”

“You should,” Tony snaps, and Steve recoils like Tony has physically hit him. Tony takes a deep breath in, blows it out. “Look. I’m not letting you make decisions whilst having it out with this guy. You’ll make a decision you’ll regret.”

“You _need_ to make a decision,” Fury says. “Captain, you cannot just keep a fugitive from another dimension here with no paperwork or-”

“Yes you can,” Tony butts in stubbornly. “He’s biologically yours.”

Steve’s chair screeches back. “That’s not good enough!”

“You need to get over whatever this is,” Tony snaps back. “You are not going to hand Arto over to SHIELD-”

“I said I wouldn’t,” Steve says angrily. “But I can’t just-”

“You _can._ ”

“I _can’t._ ”

Steve steps back. He takes a physical step back and one hand goes up, fingers pushing into his hair, and for a split second something flickers across his face and then he turns away so Tony can’t see his expression, only the rise and fall of his shoulders as he takes a steadying breath.

“You need to hand him over,” Fury says slowly and deliberately, apparently unwilling to let it go, even if Tony can tell that Steve is ten seconds away from blowing his gasket. “Captain, you have my word that he will be protected- 

“Your word?” Steve says, and he starts to laugh, the sound strangled before his voice hardens. He turns around, fists clenched. “Your fucking _word-_?”

The coffee pot on the table in front of them shatters. Shards of glass skitter everywhere and coffee sprays in every direction, flooding across the counter. Tony swears and ducks, automatically lifting a hand with his palm up; Steve and Fury instinctively wheel around, Fury drawing his gun at lightning speed and holding it up with steady hands 

“Goddamn it, Bucky!”

Steve is the first to recover, lifting a hand to press against his forehead and looking like he would happily knock Bucky out if he were standing close enough. Bucky is standing over by the fridge, evidently having come in through the stairwell. He’s got his gun in hand and a scowl on his face, and Tony can’t help but think that there’s a _child_ in the building, and an argument that has been going on for all of fifteen minutes has already escalated into a goddamn shoot out.

“Put the weapon away, Barnes,” Fury says slowly and deliberately.

Bucky lifts the gun, looking at it with a puzzled frown that’s completely put on. “This weapon? No, see, I legally live here. I’m allowed a gun here. You are not.”

“I’m director of SHIELD, I could stick this gun up your ass and it would clear in a court of law,” Fury says, though he does tuck the gun back into his coat. Thankfully, Bucky takes the concession for what it is and puts his own gun away, clicking the safety on and shoving it behind him into his belt.

“Sit the fuck down,” Bucky says forcefully to Steve as he adjusts his pants to compensate for the gun that’s now tucked safely into the small of his back. Tony knows the tone all too well; it becomes a regular one when dealing with Steve being stubborn. Luckily for him, Bucky has more experience of it than he does.

Expression like a thundercloud, Steve drops into the chair without argument, and Tony is simultaneously jealous of and impressed by Bucky and how he can actually get Steve to listen when he’s this far gone into a mood.

“And you,” Bucky snarls, rounding on Fury and pointing a metal finger in his face. “You listen. We are literally the only people who are strong enough to keep a hold of the kid, so he stays. And whilst he stays, you back the fuck off. The only link the kid has to any world is the genes of Steve Rogers, and hey look, we have a Steve Rogers, so he gets dibs.”

“The kid is from another dimension,” Fury begins.

“Prove it,” Bucky shoots back. “Prove that he is from another dimension. Prove that he’s not just some bastard that Steve left lying around – Steve, shut up,” he growls as Steve makes an angry noise of protest. “This is Steve’s decision, but he don’t have to make it now.”

Fury stares at Bucky. Bucky stares back. Tony looks over at Steve who is looking at Bucky, jaw set so tightly that Tony’s honestly worried it might break. He can’t tell if Steve is grateful for Bucky’s intervention or if he’s going to drop him the moment Fury leaves.

Bucky steps closer to Fury, crowding into his space. “You say yes,” he says, voice low and dangerous.

Fury breathes out, shaking his head. “Put a lid on it, Barnes,” he finally says, and steps back. “I can give you seven days,” he says to Steve. “Seven days to come up with a viable plan. I don’t need to tell you how serious this is.”

“You think I don’t get that?” Steve asks angrily, his voice once again rising with his temper. “You think I don’t know how serious this is?”

“Oh, fucking can it, Rogers,” Bucky says irritably, turning to look at him. “Go cool your heels before I shoot _you_.”

Steve gets up and walks away without another word, vanishing towards the stairwell. Tony gets up to follow but Bucky’s metal hand shoots out, palm down, signalling him to stay put. Tony hesitates and then complies, leaning his hip against the counter and folding his arms across his chest.

Fury turns to Bucky again. “Maybe I should put you in charge.”

Bucky lifts an eyebrow. “Maybe you should.”

“Seven days, gentlemen,” Fury says, and then he leaves, heading towards the stairwell.

“What a dick,” Bucky says indifferently, and Tony snorts with tired laughter.

“Thanks for that,” he says, because he is actually grateful to Bucky for weighing in, though he could have maybe been a bit more subtle about it. “Could have done with a decision from Steve-”

“Hey, you know what he gets like when he’s freaking out. The guy is a tactical genius, but when it comes to relationships he’s a fuck up. He avoids personal decisions like he’s got some sort of pathological fear of them. How you two got your heads out of your asses to make it work is beyond me.”

“Wow, thanks,” Tony says, mildly affronted. Bucky waves a dismissive hand.

“The point is, he’s emotionally stunted. Always has been. And think about it, what is going to be going through his mind right now?”

Tony pulls a face. “How the hell should I know,” he says irritably, because he feels lost with Steve at the moment, and conceding that to Bucky is _not_ a pleasant feeling.

“Because you know Steve as well as I do,” Bucky replies just as impatiently, and Tony pauses in place.  “Better, in some ways.”

Tony’s anger fades away, leaving nothing but an empty despondent ache in his chest. To hear Bucky say that is both humbling and disconcerting all wrapped up in one. “Then why isn’t he talking to me about this?” Tony finally says, and he’s horribly aware that he’s in danger of becoming _that guy_ , the one who talks to his whatever’s best friend about his relationship issues.

“He’s scared,” Bucky says simply. “In the space of a day he’s found out he’s a father. He’s a super-soldier who represents the whole fucking country, he’s a queer who’s only just openly acknowledging he’s in a relationship with another fella and now he’s ended up with a kid.”

Tony doesn’t reply straight away. He knew Steve was thrown for a loop by what’s happened with the kid, but that’s just ridiculous; Steve Rogers isn’t scared of shit. “I just – he always does the right thing,” he says, eyes on the countertop. “He always just – he cares about everyone else so much, but he doesn’t seem to give a damn this time.”

“Come on, of course he gives a damn,” Bucky says. “He’s just scared. At the end of the day that kid is either with him, or outta here. It’s all on him and he’s not stupid, he knows it. This is big, man. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t be freaking out if it turned out you had a kid.”

Tony nods, distractedly acknowledging the point. His mind is going a thousand revolutions a minute. Worry and anger and guilt all churn in his stomach, because he should have known that Steve isn’t just being stubborn. He should have known that Steve cares, probably cares too much by the sounds of things. “What are we going to tell everyone? We’ve only got seven days to come up with a cover story for where Arto came from-”

“Whoa, whoa,” Bucky says. “Steve’s choice, not yours.”

Tony huffs out a breath through his nose, agitatedly conceding the point. His stomach has twisted itself up in a knot, because suddenly he’s got to think about potentially handing Arto over, and it feels like he’d be letting him down if he did. 

Tony lifts his eyes to meet Bucky’s. “And what if Steve decides to pack the kid off with SHIELD?”

Bucky doesn’t reassure him, doesn’t try and be comforting. He just shrugs. “Then you have to deal with that,” he says simply, and then frowns. “What’s with this, since when have you had any paternal feelings anyway?”

Tony laughs at that, short and choppy. “I dunno,” he says, tone full of self-depreciation. “Maybe it’s the frown, matches Steve’s perfectly.”

Bucky’s mouth quirks in a sort of smile. “Gee, you really are gone for him, right?”

“Pretty much,” Tony shrugs, and doesn’t say anything more. How he and Steve feel about each other is entirely their business, and no-one else’s. He would literally turn the world inside out for Steve, and he hopes Steve knows it. Even as he thinks it, he mentally falters; their half a conversation that they’d had before Steve left for his mission doesn’t fill him with confidence. Add to that the fact that Steve chose to stay away from him and thought Tony wouldn’t miss him for a night means they probably need to have a conversation of the serious sort, and sharpish.

“Okay, I’m going to check in with Arto,” Tony says, by way of avoiding any more talk about him and Steve. “I left him with Barton, which was probably a dumb idea on my part.”

“If I were going to leave anything important with any of you lot I’d leave it with Barton,” Bucky says indifferently. Tony’s eyebrows shoot up, but Bucky is already turning away, walking towards the fridge and pulling it open. Tony watches him for a moment, gaze speculative, but then he decides to let it go and walks away. He’s got bigger things to think about right now, after all.

When he reaches the medlab again, his worry about leaving Clint in charge completely vanish, and he grudgingly admits that maybe Bucky was right. Clint is sat on the edge of the bed and Vasquez is reclining on the chair a few feet away. Arto is kneeling up on the bed next to Clint, and has a stethoscope in his ears and a headlamp crooked on his forehead. He’s also got what appears to be Vasquez’s SHIELD pass swinging around his neck. There’s a look of abject concentration on his face and he’s pressing the chestpiece to Clint’s forehead.

 _Fuck, how can Steve not see this,_ Tony thinks as he barks out a laugh. He walks over, and Arto swivels to look at him, eyes wide and bright.

“You won’t hear anything in there, kiddo,” he says, nodding to where Arto has the chestpiece held. “Completely empty, I guarantee it.”

“I am insulted,” Clint says. “Arto, tell him. Tell him you can hear something.”

“Nothing,” Arto crows, banging the chestpiece against Clint’s forehead and making him wince.

“Again, watch the super-soldier strength,” he says, but Arto isn’t paying much attention. He shifts back and instead presses the chestpiece to Clint’s shoulder. Tony bites back a smile; there’s a red circle on Clint’s forehead from where Arto has been pressing on it.

“He is physically fit and healthy,” Vasquez stands up to talk to Tony as Arto listens hard to Clint’s shoulder. “A little underweight and malnourished, but he’s young so he’ll hopefully bounce back from that as long as he starts on a balanced diet as soon as possible.”

“He let you…” Tony says, and points to the stethoscope and medical supplies.

“He let Barton,” Vasquez says with a faint smile and an acknowledging head tip towards Clint.

Clint holds his hand up for a high-five. “It’s because I’m awesome.”

Tony shakes his head, but does step over and high-five Clint, because he’s refused before and he’s not going to make that mistake again. Being awoken at four AM by Bucky Barnes delivering a _‘revenge high-five to the face’_ is one of his least favourite moments in life ever. “It’s because you also have the mental age of a six year old.”

“And you’re a dick,” Clint says cheerfully. “Hey, check this out,” he says to Arto, and takes the chestpiece from him. He holds it towards Arto and Arto flinches away. Tony steps forwards, but Clint doesn’t seem fazed.  “Okay, you do it. Just hold it like this,” he says, and lifts up his shirt to hold the chestpiece against his stomach next to his bellybutton. “Now you.”

Arto carefully takes the end of the stethoscope and lifts up his own scrub top – Jesus, they really need to get him some new clothes – holding the chestpiece against his stomach. His brow furrows and then his mouth falls open in surprise.

“It’s- it’s-!” he tries to say, and turns to Tony with wide excited eyes. “Noise!”

“It’s because you’re hungry,” Clint says, and wow, Clint Barton is now Tony’s favourite person ever, Bucky was right. “You’ve got to eat, that’s your body telling you to eat.”

“Mmm,” Arto hums noncommittally, and then he puts the chestpiece back on Clint’s chest. It’s not an outright no or a temper tantrum though, so Tony’s going to put it in the _‘progress’_ column.

“Oh god, oh god, please tell me I’m not dead, am I dead?” Clint gasps, and Arto giggles.

“No,” he says. “Noise.”

“Oh good, Barton is alive,” Tony says. “We better feed him though to make sure he stays alive.”

Arto nods and then takes the stethoscope out of his ears, though keeps it looped around his neck. The chestpiece falls and clatters against Vasquez’s lanyard, and he scoots back and then looks around.

“Where’s-” he says, looking unsure, and Tony already knows that’s a face that could very quickly go south. “I want.”

“Okay, I’m going to go and find Steve,” Tony says to Arto, who still looks a little uncertain. “I will go and get Steve, Clint will take you to eat your own bodyweight in cereal and we will meet you in the kitchen.”

“Just in case you didn’t know, children cannot live off cereal,” Vasquez says as she stands up. “Arto, can I have my pass back please?”

Arto shakes his head and turns his face away, mouth bowing down sullenly. He reaches down and holds the pass in his fingers, apparently unwilling to surrender it.

“How about you keep the lanyard, and give her the card back?” Tony says. “She needs it back to get home.”

Arto doesn’t look convinced, but he doesn’t resist as Tony steps forwards and reaches for the pass.  Tony snaps the card out of it and passes it to Vasquez, who takes it with a grateful nod.

“I’ll see myself out,” she says, phone in hand. “I’ll see you soon, little one.”

“Thanks,” Tony says, and she smiles brightly and then waves at Arto before leaving the room, heels clicking on the floor as she departs.

“Come on then short-round, time to go on a quest for cereal,” Clint says, and Tony steps forwards and swings Arto down off the bed. Arto goes easily, hands grasping Tony’s forearms as Tony sets him down, and then lets go and makes a beeline for Clint, who sends Tony a grin which is just a tad too smug for Tony’s liking.

“No. No turning the small child into your sidekick. You’ve already got Barnes, you don’t need another one.”

“Too late,” Clint says cheerfully, and reaches out for Arto’s hand. Arto shakes his head but Clint just shrugs and heads towards the door, slipping his hands into his pockets. Arto immediately darts after him, sticking so close to Clint’s heels that he’s likely to be trodden on or tripped over, and as the pair leave the room Tony hears Clint humming what sounds like the Indiana Jones theme tune.

Tony debates shouting after him but decides to just let it go this time. Arto is – for whatever reason – finding Clint both amusing and apparently comforting, and Tony doesn’t want to make him feel uncertain about it by being a dick to Clint. Sure, they all give each other hell on a daily basis, but they’re – supposedly – adults, and they know that for the most part it doesn’t hold any genuine intent. But for a small kid who appears to have only a very basic knowledge and understanding of the complexity of human reactions, it could probably seem quite horrid.

“Still watching, J?” Tony asks quietly.

For once, Jarvis doesn’t give him any attitude. “Of course, Sir. The child seems settled and calm, though has expressed doubts about the elevator, so Agent Barton is opting to use the stairs.”

A weak smile hitches the corner of Tony’s mouth. “He’s got a name now, J. Use it.”

“Of course, Sir.”

Tony nods. “Where’s Steve?”

“In his quarters with Agent Barnes,” Jarvis replies smoothly. “I believe they are dealing with an injury that Captain Rogers sustained whist on his latest mission.”

“Great,” Tony says dully, stepping towards the door, annoyance warring with despondency in his chest. “Not telling me he’s been hurt again. Wow, today is really going well.”

“Considering circumstances, I believe it could be going a lot worse,” Jarvis says and Tony snorts with tired laughter as he makes his way out of the medlab and towards Steve’s rooms, unsure as to whether he wants to go and take care of Steve – as much as Steve allows himself to be taken care of – or shake him, _hard._

“Worse. Yeah. Keep reminding me of that J. I think I could forget pretty easily.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags and note at the beginning have been updated, just to be clearer on certain aspects of the fic that might be upsetting/triggery to people. Please, please check them out, just in case.

“You got shot again, didn’t you.”

Bucky’s voice is flat and unimpressed, and Steve mentally winces, head still craned around from where he’s looking at the damage done to his shoulder in the bathroom mirror. He slowly turns his head around and sees that yep, Bucky looks distinctly displeased, half scowl on his face and arms folded across his chest, standing in the bathroom doorway and leaning his metal shoulder against the doorjamb.

“No?” he tries, even though he knows Bucky can see the reflection of his bare back in the mirror. The top half of his suit is on the floor next to his feet; he’s got to hand it in to SHIELD to either get the bullet hole fixed, or get a replacement. He doesn’t particularly want to; Coulson seems to take it as a personal insult whenever Steve wrecks a suit beyond repair.

“Imma tell Stark,” Bucky says, taking a step back and turning as if to leave, and Steve feels his stomach his clench.

“No, Bucky, don’t,” he says, and Bucky pauses. “Help me out?” 

Bucky sighs and jerks his head towards the adjoining bedroom. “Get something sharp.”

Feeling ridiculously grateful and also like an awful human being, Steve opens the bathroom cabinet and pulls out the medical kit he keeps stashed away for moments exactly such as this. He carries it through to the bedroom and passes it wordlessly to Bucky, who clambers onto the bed and sits cross legged, placing the metal box in his lap. Steve sits on the edge of the bed with his back to Bucky, settling in the dip between his crossed knees. Bucky scoots closer, his shins pressing against Steve, comforting in his closeness.

“You’re an idiot,” Bucky says, and Steve feels cool metal fingers press against the hot, tender spot on his shoulder. “There’s still something in there, and you’ve healed up over it.” 

“I know,” Steve sighs glumly, because he knows he has and he also knows that means that someone will have to cut the bullet out. “Idiot, moron, should tell field medics when I get shot, should stop making you play nurse.”

“Damn right,” Bucky says forcefully, and Steve winces as the metal finger prods at him with slightly too much pressure before retreating. He hears the click of Bucky’s fingers against the metal box of the medical kit as he opens it. “Between you and Barton, I might as well be a goddamn nurse.”

Despite himself, Steve feels a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “Who’s winning?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t exactly call it winning,” Bucky snorts, and Steve can hear him delving through the kit. There’s metallic clinks and then a rustle, the rip of paper. “You’re five for four now.” 

Steve cocks his head contemplatively. “Not too bad.”

“Shut up, Rogers,” Bucky says, and his metal hand closes around Steve’s shoulder from behind, and then he swipes an antiseptic wipe over Steve’s shoulder, leaving his skin feeling fresh and cool in the air. He repeats the motion a few times, sweeping the wipe over the wound in methodical horizontal stripes. “Sit still.”

Steve shifts, ducking his head and leaning forwards, bracing his forearms on his thighs. Bucky follows, rising up on his knees, still keeping his hand on Steve’s shoulder to steady himself. Breathing out shallowly, Steve nods and then feels the bright, sharp pain of what he presumes is a scalpel slice across his skin. At least he thinks it’s a scalpel; he wouldn’t put it past Bucky to use scissors if he was feeling _really_ pissy.

“Sit still,” Bucky insists again, and there’s another stab of pain, sharp and ugly.

“I am sti – fucking _whore,_ ” Steve bites out as he feels Bucky press deeper.

“Captain _America_ ,” Bucky faux gasps, all pretend shock. “Why, if your mama could hear you now,” he continues, and the stabby implement retreats for a moment. Steve breathes out through his nose and then jolts, a noise halfway between a yelp and a gasp catching in his throat as something else prods as his shoulder. 

“What the hell, are you using your _fingers?_ ” Steve asks, mouth hanging open and expression pained; brows furrowed, one eye squeezed shut. 

“Tweezers,” Bucky says, and leans around to wave them in front of Steve’s face. “I can use my bare hands if you prefer.” 

“Don’t know – ah – where they’ve been,” Steve grunts, clenching his mouth shut and closing both eyes. “Ow, Bucky, seriously-”

“Oh, shut your hole,” Bucky retorts. “Christ, Barton is so much easier to deal with than you.”

Steve snorts sceptically, and bites down another swear word. “Yeah? And how’s that?”

“He lets me knock him out,” Bucky says vaguely, distractedly, concentration evident in his tone. “And three, two, one – got you, you little bitch. Whoa, what were they shooting you with?”

Steve twists around to look at the gleaming piece of metal clamped between the bloody tweezers in Bucky’s fingers, frowning. Underneath the blood, the bullet has a strange silvery-blue sheen that he doesn’t recognise.

“Don’t recognise what it’s made of,” he says, reaching out for it. Bucky drops it into his palm, and Steve picks it up with two fingers, eyebrows lifting. “Heavy.”

“Yeah, it’d need to be to get through your suit,” Bucky says, and reaches over Steve’s shoulder to take the bullet from him, examining it closely-

The sound of a throat being cleared from the doorway makes them both look up in tandem, and Steve’s chest tightens as he sees Tony standing there, hands in his pockets and one eyebrow raised in question. He looks even more unimpressed than Bucky, and Steve can’t help but feel guilt and relief and exasperation roll through him in a strange aching tangle. It’s like he wants to both avoid Tony and pull him close. If he could, he’d hide himself away in Tony, out of sight of the rest of the world.

“Seriously?” Tony says, sounding bored and fed up and annoyed all at the same time. “So, you didn’t feel like letting me know you were back, or, I don’t know, that you’d been shot?”

Steve looks away, down at the floor beneath his feet. “Didn’t think you’d want to see me,” he says honestly, though he’s not expecting the ringing silence that follows the words. Bucky has gone very still behind him, and Tony is staring at him with a new and strange expression on his face.

“Barnes, give us a moment?” Tony finally breaks the silence, and he sounds resigned, almost disappointed. 

“Can do,” Bucky says with a shrug, and gives Steve's shoulder a squeeze that’s probably meant to be reassuring, before packing up the medical kit and clambering off the bed, leaving the room. He edges past Tony and vanishes, his footsteps fading  quickly and leaving Steve alone with Tony. Steve feels oddly betrayed for a moment, but the feeling doesn’t last as his attention and focus quickly and easily turns to Tony.

“Tony-”

“Just, don’t start,” Tony bites out, and then huffs out a breath, reaching up to drag his hand over his face, pushing his fingers into his hair. “We need to talk.”

Steve lifts his eyes to Tony’s face, staying perfectly still. “Sounds ominous." 

Tony huffs tiredly, drops his hands. “It’s the ‘ _we need to talk’_ line. It’s supposed to sound like that. Means that this is serious.”

Steve shakes his head, stands up. “We were fighting AIM, I got hit. It’s not a big deal,” he says, walking back towards the bathroom and thumbing open the button on the pants of his suit. He hears Tony draw in a sharp, barely controlled breath and knows his back must look a mess.

“I’m not talking about the fact you got shot,” Tony says, and Steve stalls momentarily. He’ll quite happily have the argument about necessary risk and getting hurt again, because that usually ends in jokes and exasperated laughter and sex. Any other arguments that are currently in play are ones he wants no part in.

“Not now,” he says, and he makes his hands move again, pulling his pants open and pushing them down, stepping out of them and leaving them kicked to the side. He reaches towards the shower, pulling the glass door open, and then stops when he hears footsteps behind him and two warm hands slide onto his waist. He shuts his eyes, breathing heavily, reactively, because he’s naked and Tony is right there behind him, palms heavy and reassuring on his skin.

“You do realise that you have like, a level ten in avoidance?” Tony asks lightly, and Steve sighs, sways back into Tony. The fingers on his hips tighten and Tony edges closer, his front brushing Steve’s back.

“I know,” Steve admits, and shudders as one of Tony’s hands slides around to his front, resting just below his navel, thumb idly stroking his skin. He feels Tony rest his forehead against his uninjured shoulder, the warm wash of his breath on his skin.

“You know it’s probably not healthy.”

“I gotta get some space sometimes,” Steve says. He wants so very badly to cover Tony’s hand with his own, to turn around and haul Tony closer.  “Only way I can think properly-”

“You brood,” Tony interrupts. “All you do is shut down and brood, and overthink everything. It never helps.”

“Are we really doing this now?” Steve asks, shivering slightly as Tony’s thumb drags lower.

“Say it all you want, it’s happening at some point.”

A frustrated noise wells up in the back of Steve’s throat, and he steps forwards, pulling himself out of Tony’s grip. He reaches into the shower and turns it on, hoping Tony will get the hint and leave it alone. It’s agonising; Tony’s presence is exactly what he wants, but it comes with the sharp edges of conversation that he’s trying to avoid.

Warm fingers creep onto the back of his neck, an elbow bumping gently against the small of his back. The grip tightens just enough, and Tony is the only person that Steve will allow to touch him like this, in such a vulnerable way, especially when he’s this tightly wound.

“Give it up, Rogers,” Tony breathes, and his hand slides away from Steve’s neck, down across the planes of his back to his hip, gently pushing to turn him around. Steve complies after a moment of resistance, revolving on the spot to face Tony.

“What am I going to do with you,” Tony murmurs over the hiss and spray of the shower behind them, shaking his head and then looking up like he’s going to say more-

Steve kisses him. Tony’s words are cut off and his breath hitches in his chest as Steve presses their mouths together, hands reaching hold to grab hold of Tony’s waist. Tony pulls back slightly, chest rising and sinking as he draws in a deep breath,  one hand coming up to rest on Steve’s chest, over his heart.

“Steve-”

Steve cuts him off again, pulling him back and pressing their mouths together, enough momentum in his actions to send them both back a step, close enough to the shower that Steve can feel the warmth and the slight dampness of the spray on his back. This time Tony doesn’t pull away; he raises his hands to either side of Steve’s neck, kissing him hungrily and crowding close.

There’s a brief moment in which Steve thinks that he shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t be playing dirty and avoiding conversation in this way, but it’s quickly let go of. God, it feels like a lifetime since he’s had Tony in his arms like this, even though it’s only been a few days. Tony’s hands are holding him close as he kisses Steve, and Steve has got one hand locked on Tony’s hip and the other sliding down his back, over the curve of his ass. Steve feels all the tension and discontent of the past few days coalesce, bleeding out with every heated kiss and touch.

A hand leaves his neck, slips over his arm, palm splaying out over his spine and pushing him impossibly closer. They’re kissing like teenagers, open mouthed and needy, and Steve groans as Tony bites down on his lower lip. The sensation stings, settles deep in his gut and then spreads like heat through his body. He doesn’t even stop to think about it, he just _wants_ , taking a stumbling step back again, pulling Tony with him right into the shower.

Tony gasps, fingers clenching on Steve’s skin as the water drenches them. Steve shoves Tony’s arm out the way and grabs hold of him by the back of his thighs, fingers sliding up until they press into the crease between Tony’s thigh and ass. He hauls him close so they’re pressed together, chest to chest, the soaked material of Tony’s shirt rubbing against his bare skin. If he could get away with it he’d lift Tony and press him back against the cold tiles; he’d tried it once and Tony had violently objected to not having his feet on the floor whilst not in both full control and the armour, so Steve has crossed sex up against a wall off his mental to-do list.

Compromising with what he wants and want Tony will allow, Steve simply shoves Tony backwards against the wall, relishing in the shudder that goes through him even as his breath is knocked out of his lungs in a breathless grunt. Their mouths are almost touching, hot breaths panted into the scant space between them. Steve’s shoulder stings where the water hits against the spot where the bullet went in, but he doesn’t care. Tony leans in slowly and lazily licks his way into Steve’s mouth, a perfect counterpoint to the frenetic actions of a few moments ago. Steve lets him, slides his hands under Tony’s sopping shirt and drags the wet material up his chest, relishing in the groan he gets in return.

“You are playing dirty, Rogers,” Tony accuses breathlessly as Steve peels the shirt off him, dropping it to the floor without a second thought. He presses his fingers to Tony’s back, feeling the play of muscle and the strength in his shoulder blades, tugging him forwards a stumbling step away from the wall. “You are a wet, filthy, distracting _menace,_ you and your sex drive need to be stopped-”

“Stop me then,” Steve says, moving his hand to the front of Tony’s pants and sliding his palm over the outline of Tony’s erection. Tony gasps, hitches his hips forwards, and then he’s kissing Steve again, mouths sliding together as they fumble with Tony’s pants.

“Fuck you,” Tony pants and shoves Steve's hands aside, dexterous fingers managing to get his pants open now that Steve isn’t hindering his efforts. Steve bends down to push the pants down Tony’s legs, taking his underwear too and wrestling the clinging fabric down to Tony’s ankles. On his knees, he slides a hand behind one of Tony’s knees, leaning in and mouthing the wet skin of his inner thigh.

Tony returns to leaning his shoulders back against the wall of the shower without shifting his feet, pressing one palm on the wall behind him and the other onto the back of Steve’s head, urging him on. It arches his back beautifully and Steve doesn’t fight the shudder that tremors through him. Tony is _obscene_ some days, so confident in his own skin and the control he exerts over his body. It would easily bring Steve to his knees, if he weren’t already there.

Steve traces his mouth up Tony’s leg, lower lip dragging against his skin. He has to keep blinking water out of his eyes and it’s almost too hot, but he doesn’t care. He’s here with Tony and he can kid himself that nothing is amiss, that nothing has changed.

“Come on,” Tony coaxes, voice a wicked murmur. Steve obliges, mouthing higher and higher, fingers creeping up to take hold of the base of Tony’s dick, shivering at the feel of hot hardness beneath his fingertips. Tony makes a breathless noise in the back of his throat and Steve’s skin prickles with arousal. Breathing heavily, he leans in and takes the head of Tony’s dick into his mouth, sucking hard straight away. The muscles in Tony’s thighs jump under his palms and Tony bites out a curse, the fingers on the back of Steve’s head tightening reflexively.  

Steve doesn’t tease. He sucks Tony harshly, pulling back occasionally to tongue at the head of his dick, relishing the way Tony gasps and curses every time he does. Yes, Tony know how to drop Steve with nothing more than a subtle arch of his back and a certain look in his eyes, but Steve knows exactly how to break Tony apart as well.

“Steve,” Tony gasps, and he shifts, trying unsuccessfully to spread his legs with his sodden pants still tangled around his ankles. Steve takes pity on him and leans back to grab the material, pulling at it so Tony can wrest a foot free. Tony staggers slightly as he does, and Steve catches him with strong hands on his hips. He presses a panting, open-mouthed kiss to Tony’s abdomen and moves one hand to push between Tony’s thighs, sliding up until his thumb presses against Tony’s balls. Tony draws in a shuddering breath that’s audible even over the sound of the running water, and Steve screws his eyes closed, fingers clutching desperately at Tony’s skin.

There’s the clatter of plastic bottles against the tiled floor, and Steve looks up to see Tony reaching out, hand fumbling across the shelf in the corner of the shower and in very real danger of sending another couple of bottles falling. “Fuck, you’re really telling me you don’t have any lube in here? I refuse to believe that, no way do you not-”

Thankfully Tony’s groping fingers find what they’re looking for without Steve having to direct him. He makes a noise of triumph in the back of his throat and then he’s hitting Steve on the shoulder with the lube, impatient as ever. Steve laughs and takes it from him, and Tony is laughing too, leaning back and sliding a hand over Steve’s shoulder, the back of his neck.

“Shut up, Rogers,” he says breathlessly, hand cupping the back of his neck. “Back to it.”

Steve rolls his eyes, reaches up to push his wet hair back with his palm. Tony makes a noise deep in his chest and the fingers of his other hand are pushing through Steve’s wet hair, clenching hard. He jerks Steve forwards roughly and Steve goes willingly, opening his mouth for Tony to thrust inside. God, this is exactly what he wants, what he needs. In here there’s nothing to think about but the sex, just the thrill of having Tony close. In this moment, he doesn’t have to worry about anything or anyone, or the rest of the world that waits for them just outside.

Tony’s hands are unforgiving and he snaps his hips forwards almost carelessly, and he groans as Steve swallows around the head of his dick. Steve retaliates by slicking his fingers and slipping his hand up between Tony’s thighs. Tony shifts his feet apart and cries out as Steve slides a finger into him without warning.

“God, I love your multitasking capabilities,” Tony gasps and then his breath catches and his whole body jerks as Steve pushes another finger into him. His hands tighten in Steve’s hair, on the back of his neck, and Steve feels his whole body arch as Tony rises unconsciously up onto the balls of his feet. “Jesus _fuck_ , Steve-”

Steve twists his fingers and pulls back off of Tony’s dick, chest heaving as he draws breath. He mouths his way over Tony’s hipbone, biting down on the jut of bone and hearing Tony bite out another curse, fingernails scratching roughly against his skin. It’s neither a protest nor a safeword though so he doesn’t stop, pulling his fingers back only to shove them back in again, setting a brutal pace that has Tony clawing at his shoulders and swearing in two different languages. A third finger joins the others and Tony’s back bows violently and beautifully, almost like he’s been electrocuted. His shoulders press into the tile and his hip collides with Steve’s jaw, and if Steve weren’t Captain America he’d have been knocked back onto his ass.

But Steve is Captain America, so he keeps his balance and simply shoves Tony back against the wall with a hand on his hip. “Four?” he pants.

“I’m standing up, are you a fucking maniac-?” Tony replies unevenly, and Steve twists his fingers in retaliation.

“You can take it,” he replies, and carefully pushes his shoulder between Tony’s legs, hitching one of Tony’s legs up. Tony’s thigh presses against the side of his head, his heel bumping Steve in the middle of his back, and Tony’s palm slaps back against the wall and he shifts his weight onto his other leg to compensate.

“I know I can take it,” he says, sliding both hands onto the back of Steve’s head. “I’m choosing not to. Come on, Steve, come on-”

“Come on and what, exactly?” Steve pants, and Tony smacks his shoulder.

“Begging for the dirty talk?” he says, and Steve can just picture the fucking smirk.

“Always,” Steve replies, because Tony knows full well that Steve not-so-secretly loves the filth that comes out of his mouth. He leans in and tongues at the head of Tony’s dick again, easing his fingers into Tony’s body even further. “It’s the one time I actually appreciate you not shutting the hell up.”

“Oh, ha fucking-” Tony begins but his voice cuts out on a strangled gasp as Steve nudges his little finger up against the rim of his hole, beside the three fingers that are already knuckle deep in Tony’s body. “Steve – vetoing four, calling a veto on four-”

Steve immediately tucks his little finger back out of the way, and feels Tony’s body sink back down, weight more pronounced over his shoulder. Fingers stroke down the side of Steve’s face in a brief acknowledgement, and Steve wishes Tony wouldn’t feel he has to thank Steve for backing off when he’s explicitly called a veto.

“Come on then,” Tony breathes, and Steve shivers hot, and if he weren’t under the spray of the shower he’d be covered in a fine sheen of sweat. “Fuck me with your fingers and get back to sucking my cock, get me right to the edge and then get up here and fuck me, so I come with your dick in my ass, come on Steve-”

Steve does as he’s told, because that’s an invitation that sends lust driving spiking through him in hot, heady waves. He own cock aches between his legs and he slides his free hand down to curl his fingers loosely around himself. He’s panting as he leans in again to take Tony’s dick into his mouth, this time pressing deeper and deeper. Tony swears and then his whole body jerks as Steve pushes his fingers roughly up into him and swallows around the head of his dick. His fingers clench painfully in Steve’s hair but he doesn’t let up, doesn’t relent. This is how Tony wants it to go, and this time Steve is only too eager to obey.

“Fuck,” Tony groans, body shifting, and Steve has to give up on touching himself to grab at Tony’s thigh again, helping support his weight and keep him balanced. Even though this is Tony’s plan, he’s in complete control here and he knows it. Well, almost complete control – his own want is bearing down on him like a freight train, and he doesn’t know if he wants to hold off for much longer.

He pulls back off Tony’s dick, pushing back against the press of Tony’s hand. “Killing me here,” he pants, wiping his eyes with his forearm.

“Just a little more,” Tony coaxes, pulling Steve’s mouth back to where he wants it. Steve wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and then nods, leaning back in. The shattered relief in Tony’s responding moan makes it worth it, and he lets Tony push him further and further, until he can feel the head of his dick pressing against the back of his throat and he’s swallowing convulsively around it. Tony’s hips rock in small, aborted thrusts as he pushes forwards into Steve’s mouth and back against his fingers, and his thigh is quivering under Steve’s hand.

He soon loses sense of time; all he’s aware of is the thudding of his pulse in his ears and the sound of the water beating down on them, Tony’s harsh breathing and the curses he can’t quite bite back. The water is spraying down on Steve’s back; his shoulder still aches dully but Steve can barely bring himself to care. He can feel Tony’s skin under his palm, the tight clutch of his body around his thrusting fingers. His own need has taken a momentary back seat and he now would quite happily stay here for hours, letting Tony take what he wanted, what he needed.

Tony’s whole body jerks, hips snapping forwards almost violently, and Steve feels his fingers slide away from his head. “Steve, Steve-” Tony gasps, and Steve is on his feet in seconds, shoving Tony around so he’s pressed chest-first into the tiles. Steve ducks down to grab the lube; he hurriedly slicks himself up and then he’s kicking Tony’s feet apart and pressing in, hands on Tony’s hips and mouthing blindly across his shoulder.

The cry that breaks free of Tony’s throat is hoarse and shattered in the most beautiful way. Steve kisses his wet shoulders, reaching up to push Tony’s face around so he can kiss his mouth, sloppy and awkward. He shoves his hips forwards roughly and Tony’s lips part on a silent cry this time, all the air punched out of him. Steve doesn’t go gentle or slow; they’re both so tightly wound that easing off now seems unbearable. 

Some days he’d choose to change the pace, to slow down and draw it out, spend hours reducing Tony to nothing but a shuddering mess in his arms, delirious from pleasure. This is not one of those days; everything Steve has felt in the past few days has turned tight and brittle in his chest, and he feels desperate and needy, not at all sure that he possess enough self-control to do anything other than fuck Tony fast and hard, bring them both off as soon as he can-

Tony has managed to get a hand wrapped around his own dick, and he’s jerking off furiously. Steve steps back and yanks Tony’s hips back with him; he staggers slightly and shifts his feet back to keep his balance. Placing a broad hand between his shoulder blades, Steve pushes his upper body forwards and Tony keens as he leans his forearm across the tiles. His back is now bowed, stretched out taught, and he seems to appreciate the new angle if his helpless moans are anything to go by.

“You watching?” Tony gasps, sounding wrecked. “You watching your dick shoving into me?”

Steve bites out a curse, tears his eyes away from Tony’s ass. His eyes lock on the back of Tony’s neck, where the hair on his nape is plastered wetly to his skin by the shower. Steve aches to reach out and tug it between his fingers, to drag his fingers across the faint ridge of his spine-

“Shit - Steve, _shit-_ ”

Tony’s whole body goes rigid and he cries out, and Steve gasps at the feel of his body clenching hotly around him. Feeling his own climax building unstoppably in the pit of his belly, Steve shoves forwards hard enough to send Tony slipping forwards. He hauls Tony fully upright and presses him into the shower wall again, hips turning frantic as he chases his own release-

He comes with a shuddering gasp, front pressed to the full length of Tony’s back. One hand is locked around Tony’s hip the other is pressed against his chest, right above the arc reactor. Tony’s head lolls on his shoulders, his whole body pliant and soft. The world goes hazy for several long moments as he rides it out, hips hitching up as he chases the last of his climax.

Steve leans forwards, gasping. He blindly reaches out and props his fist on the wall so he doesn’t crush Tony, feeling his legs juddering with aftershocks. He shifts his hips and Tony’s breath hitches as Steve’s dick slips free from his body, not yet fully soft. He reaches back with one hand, threads his fingers into Steve’s damp hair and twists his head around to kiss him lazily. Steve sighs into Tony’s mouth and locks his free arm around Tony’s waist, keeping him close.

“Okay?” Tony murmurs against his mouth, but doesn’t seem to require an answer. He nudges Steve’s nose with his own and steals another kiss, tongue dragging against Steve’s lower lip before sucking it between his own. Steve returns the kiss for a moment and then pulls back, burying his face into Tony’s skin at the juncture of shoulder and neck, suddenly and inexplicably feeling like he could burst into tears.

“Go lie down,” Tony murmurs, seemingly unaware of Steve’s roiling emotions. “I’m gonna clean up then come join you.”

Not opening his eyes, Steve shakes his head, face still buried in Tony’s shoulder. “Go,” Tony says, pushing Steve’s head away. “Don’t trust your legs to hold you up, you always get shaky after sex. Go, I’m not picking you up if you fall on your ass, I’ll just laugh and tell everyone-”

“Alright, going,” Steve manages to say, and his voice sounds steadier than expected. He presses a soft kiss to Tony’s shoulder and then backs out of the shower, grabbing a towel and padding through to the bedroom.

Roughly and quickly towelling himself dry, he loops the towel around his shoulders and sits heavily on the edge of the bed, listening to the sounds of Tony finishing up in the shower. The thrill of orgasm is fading and Steve is already starting to feel like an utter cad. The strange surge of emotion that had him on the verge of tears not long ago is still there, churning restlessly in his gut. He can’t pinpoint exactly what it is though; he feels almost like he’s _grieving_ , but that makes no sense whatsoever.   

The shower shuts off, and the silence that follows is far too loud. Steve rests his elbow on his knee and runs his hand over the back of his head, stroking over the damp hair almost unconsciously. He can hear the quiet noises of Tony moving around in the bathroom and feels a lump in his throat, the emotions from earlier surging restlessly in his ribcage.

He doesn’t look up as Tony pads out of the bathroom towards him. He feels the mattress dip as Tony climbs onto the bed, sitting next to him with one foot tucked under him and the other dangling off the edge of the bed, inner thigh pressing against Steve’s hip. It coccurs to Steve that he can't remember the last time they shared this bed; now he thinks about it, they probably haven't since those first months of casually slipping into each other's beds in the middle of the night, before they gave up on acting like nothing was going to happen and just went up to the penthouse together every night instead.

“Sit still,” he says quietly, and then Steve feels a damp cloth wipe over his shoulder, the touch light. He draws in a sharp breath through his nose but it’s nowhere near as painful as it was before, more of a dull bruise than the sharp sting of an open wound. He sits complacently as Tony gently cleans off his shoulder properly, before dropping the washcloth onto the nightstand and then leaning forwards to press his mouth to the back of Steve’s neck.

Nuzzling down against Steve’s shoulder blade, Tony sighs heavily enough for Steve to hear and feel it. “So I’m hoping that got enough frustration out of your system for you to manage a conversation. And not the stop getting shot conversation, that’s getting really old.”

Guilt slices through Steve, bitter and heavy. “I don’t want – I don’t to talk about the kid right now, Tony.”

Tony doesn’t pull away. “That’s good, because I don’t want to talk about the kid right now, either.”

Steve frowns, feeling uncertain. “So what are you talking about?”

Tony breathes in and out, slow and measured like he’s weighing up which words to use. “These things you keep saying,” he finally says. “Doing. Going back to sleeping in your own bed. Saying you don’t think I’d care, that you don’t think I’d miss you.”

Now, that Steve wasn’t expecting. He and Tony never talk about this thing between them – they haven’t since it all began the first time they fell into bed together. He kind of understands that even though he doesn’t really want to, they might have to discuss it at least a little, especially not now they’ve sort of made the decision to be more open about it in front of everyone. The question is why is Tony bringing it up right now, when they’ve already got so much going on-

Steve suddenly realizes he knows exactly why Tony is bringing it up now, and it settles like a lead weight in the pit of his stomach.

“Steve, you know I- you know how I feel about you, right?”

Steve feels his chest tighten, because he knows how he feels about Tony – at least he thought he did. It was always easy and uncomplicated, never required him to analyse or think too hard about it. It was just there, and that was okay with him. But now, now it’s being dragged out to be put under a microscope, demanding commentary and action. He blinks, lifts his chin and stares hard across the room.

“I know how I feel about you bringing this up now,” he says without thinking, and he hears the bitterness in his own voice.

Tony goes very still. His hand is still on Steve’s side.

“Doesn’t take a genius to work out that we’re only having this conversation because this kid is here.”

Tony slowly draws his hand back from Steve, leaving his skin feeling cold. “You really think that?” he asks, voice flat. “You think I’m just saying this because of Arto.”

“Yes,” Steve says honestly, a lump in his throat that he can't shift, no matter how hard he swallows, because it's never about him, is it? It's always about _Captain America_ , or the Winter Soldier, the mission that went bad, or, or the damn _kid_ they rescued - no-one ever says these things to him when it's just _him_ -

“Either you’ve got a lousy sense of self-worth, Steve Rogers, or you think very little of me,” Tony says tightly, and he’s getting up off the bed, stalking across the room towards the dresser and yanking a drawer open. He rummages for a moment and then pulls out a pair of worn sweatpants, shaking them out and shoving his feet into them, barely restrained fury in every jolted motion.

“Tony-”

“Fuck you,” Tony replies sharply, pulling the sweatpants up and tightening the cord around his hips. His hands are shaking, just enough for Steve to notice. “Fuck you, Steve. You don’t want to talk? Fine. I don’t much want to talk to you anymore, either.”

He leaves the room, slamming the door on his way out. Steve is left on the bed feeling like Tony has physically hit him. An explosion of temper like that is much more Steve’s style than Tony’s, and Steve doesn't know how they've pushed it this far, how they've managed to mess it up so badly-

 Sitting there and staring at the closed door, Steve swallows thickly before shutting his eyes.

He's got a horrible feeling that Tony might not be coming back.

 

* * *

 

Stalking into the workshop, Tony throws himself into his chair with enough force to send it rolling across the floor. He grabs the edge of his workbench and pulls himself in, shoving aside empty coffee mugs and a stack of flat screens that are awaiting stress testing by way of giving them to Bucky and Thor.

“Right,” he says abruptly. He feels like a tightly coiled spring, a join pushed past it's stress limit, about to snap. “New project file, Jarvis.”

“Name and server, Sir?" 

Tony taps his fingers against the workbench, taking a deep breath. “R T dash 0 four. And personal servers. Personal project.”

“Shall I duplicate files into Captain Rogers’ personal-?”

“No,” Tony says before Jarvis can finish the sentence. “Put all the files we pulled on Arto into that location. And don’t mention Captain Rogers until further notice.”

“Noted,” Jarvis says, with the faintest trace of a sigh in his voice. Tony grits his teeth but doesn’t comment; he knows that the AI has categorised Steve’s presence in Tony’s life as positive interaction, which is probably why he’s pushing his programmed boundaries by sounding disapproving about Tony’s request to not hear about Steve.

Well, Jarvis can go fuck himself too if he’s going to take Steve’s side over this.

“Good,” Tony says brusquely, and shoves Steve forcibly out of his mind, even though it pains him to do so. “Arto update, please.”

“Arto is with Agent Barton in his room,” Jarvis says. “He is occupied with drawing and appears calm and well.”

“Barton the babysitter,” Tony snorts, though he doesn’t deny the relief he feels at hearing Arto is safe and well and not in a temper. “Patch him through.”

There’s a slight pause, and then Clint’s voice comes through the speakers. “What’s up, Papa Stark?”

Tony’s mouth opens, and stays open for a moment as he tries to remember why the hell Barton is allowed to set foot in the building. “You’re not funny.”

“You sound mad. Fallen out with Daddy Rogers?”

“You are _not_ funny,” Tony repeats, and then offhandedly adds, “and yes, as a matter of fact.”

“Oh. Sorry bro,” Clint says, actually sounding genuine for a moment before changing the subject. “So, you’ve reached the Barton and Barnes babysitting service, what can we do for you? We charge eight hundred bucks an hour and accept no liability for any injuries or emotional traumas that may occur.”

“How is he?” Tony asks without engaging with the joking around, propping his elbow on the edge of his desk and resting the side of his face on his knuckles. He wishes he had coffee. Or a drink.

“Fine,” Clint says. “He ate four spoons of lucky charms, worked out the marshmallows are the best bit so picked them all out and ate them, then drank a pitiful amount of juice and sulked for a while.”

“Four spoons? That’s all you could manage?”

“He refused and pulled the face,” Clint replies. “You know, the face that usually means destruction and violence is about to happen?”

“Okay, good call,” Tony admits, feeling glad that Arto has at least eaten a bit. It could have too easily been a flat out refusal to comply, considering what Arto has already demonstrated since he arrived. And hey, the kid’s smart enough to appreciate the sugary goodness of marshmallow over wholegrain, so he’s going to count that as a win as well. “And after cereal?”

“Bruce and Nat wandered through the kitchen and he looked a bit spooked so I brought us up to his room. He sulked some more and then pulled all the blankets off the bed, threw them on the floor and looked at me like he wanted a fight about it.”

“What did the bed do to him?” Tony asks, baffled.

“I dunno,” Clint replies. “I was gonna ignore him but he started kicking stuff about and kinda growled at me, so I distracted him with a Starkpad and he was all over that. He’s drawing on it.”

“He _growled_ at you?”

“Oh yeah. Feral. Bared teeth and everything,” Clint says, sounding supremely unconcerned considering the kid has already shown willingness to actually bite. “Distraction worked well though.”

“What’s he drawing?”

“Erm, I dunno, I’m outside at the moment so he can’t hear us talking about him, let me just go-” Tony hears the sound of a door opening, footsteps, and then Clint’s voice calling out. “Arto, what are you drawing? Yep, that looks like Steve. Is it Steve? We have a nod, yeah, he’s drawing Steve. Want to see? It’s pretty good.”

Tony’s insides clench and twist and he feels his throat go tight. “Show him how to save it on the network,” he says by way of answer, trying not to let the feeling of helplessness overwhelm him. The question of _why Steve_ arises in his mind, because they’ve all noticed Arto’s fixation with Steve even though Steve has only interacted with him minimally. He’s not jealous; he’s genuinely curious as to why. “You alright with him for a while?”

“Yeah. I’ve got Jarvis to route the Xbox through this TV, I’m set.”

“Stop running Microsoft through my systems.”

“Develop a Stark brand games console then. Or find another babysitter.”

Tony huffs out a laugh. “Touché. Right, I’m going to do some small-child based research to see if I can work out why we’re growling and destroying beds. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Coffee, please.”

Tony snorts again. “Yeah. You’ve got a glamorous assistant for that sort of stuff, nice try.”

He cuts the connection and turns back to his workbench, exhaling and stretching. He runs his hands over his bare upper arms, absently thinking that he should have gotten properly dressed before storming down to the workshop. He’s always been comfortable lounging around in Steve’s clothes when the occasion has called for it, but right now he doesn’t want the reminder. He’d get changed, but there’s little to no point seeing as his whole body still aches from fucking in the shower, a constant warm throb that he usually welcomes and revels in.

He wonders if he’ll ever get to enjoy it again, and abruptly shuts down that avenue of thought because he can’t afford to right now. He’s got Arto to deal with, and isn’t going to waste time and emotion on anyone else. Not even if shutting that person out feels like cutting off a limb.

Breathing in and out deeply, he gets back on task. He rubs his mouth thoughtfully, thinks about the information Clint has just relayed. “Jarvis, search the wide recesses of the internet for child behaviour.”

“Two hundred and forty one million results in point four seconds,” Jarvis immediately replies, and Tony swears.

“Okay, nix that.  Try aggression in children.”

“Thirty-two million results.”

“Fuck,” Tony says, throwing his hands up. “What is wrong with the youth of today? Never mind. Right, we can’t do fixing it until we know what’s causing it. Can we narrow the search to causes, please? Go for top results, find common themes and threads, tell me what you’ve got.”

“May I suggest creating a databank of Arto’s known behaviours, to correlate against the any suggested causes the search finds?”

“You are a goddamn genius. Do it. Right, known behaviours. Kicking, punching, biting. Running away. Crying. Refusing to do things. Put the non-talking thing in there as well. The limited vocabulary. The fact that we found him in a Hydra lab.”

“Shall I order the easy guide to controlling children that were cloned in laboratory experiments in parallel dimensions?” Jarvis says smoothly.

“You can stow it,” Tony says, one eyebrow lifted. “Shit, is any of this going to be relevant at all? There’s literally no precedent for angry super-soldier clones that were grown in labs-”

“If I may, Sir, he may be that, but it may be best if we simply consider him a child.”

Tony ponders that for a moment and then nods. “Alright. Scrap the Hydra part. What’s the equivalent? A refugee, I guess? Oh, and add no parents to the database. That’s always part of the story, a big part in this guy’s case I would imagine.”

Jarvis immediately starts searching, throwing up glowing screens of webpages and articles and contacts that he thinks will be of use. Tony’s eyes scan them, pulling ones that could be helpful to one side and discarding the rest. Within minutes he’s got over a hundred pages open and is slowly but surely delving his way through what seems to be an endless stream of information.

Three hours later, and all he’s achieved is to give himself a headache and ascertain that there are hundreds of potential causes for Arto’s behaviour. The simplest is that he’s just upset and unsettled. The more complex are drenched in theories to do with attachment and limbic system development and chemical imbalances. And that’s without the added complexities of the fact he’s a six-year-old, Hydra-grown super-soldier.

Tony is _way_ out of his depth here.

“So, the things that could be potentially wrong, including but not limited to, EBD, ADHD, AD, ADD, RAD, ODD, ASD, IED,” he rattles off, pressing his fingers to his temples in a futile effort to dull the ache. “Any more acronyms to add to the list?”

“I believe you remembered them all, Sir.”

“Comparing to the database, which are we looking at being most likely?”

“Arto is exhibiting behaviours associated with all of them,” Jarvis says, and Tony groans and slumps over his desk with his head buried in his forearms. “Though we currently have very little data to go on.”

“Is that your suggestion tone, are you suggesting we wait for more data?”

“I believe that would be helpful.”

Tony pushes himself up and slumps back in his chair, scratching absently at his chest. “But what the hell are we supposed to do until then? How can we fix it if we don’t know what’s caused it? Are we meant to let him run wild whilst we figure it out?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, Sir? I do believe this is outside of my area of expertise.”

Tony is about to snap back at Jarvis when Clint’s voice interrupts, coming through the speakers without warning or permission from Jarvis, which can only mean it’s something to do with Arto.

“Tony?”

 “Hit me,” Tony replies immediately, alarm rising in his stomach already-

“He’s gone to sleep.”

Tony raises both eyebrows, wondering why Clint is telling him this right now. He exhales, feeling the worry fade away slightly. “Sleeping is good, he needs to sleep. He hardly slept at all last night-”

“He’s gone to sleep in the bottom of the wardrobe,” Clint reiterates.

Tony sighs. “Great. Is he safe?”

“Yeah. He’s made a blanket nest. Kid after my own heart.”

“Leave him to sleep then. I think arguing about beds is way, way down the priority list right now.”

There’s a shuffling sound, some distant rustles and thuds, then a pause. “I’ll stay here with him till he wakes up again.”

Tony shuts his eyes, a faint smile on his lips. “Hey, Barton?”

“Yup?”

“You’re not a totally useless Avenger.”

“You say the sweetest things,” Clint replies wryly, and then a second voice is heard in the background.

“Tell him to go fuck himself.”

Tony is going to throw something at Bucky Barnes the next time he sees him, something heavy with sharp corners. “You!” he hisses. “No swearing around the kid. And no more shooting things in the tower whilst he’s here, I can’t believe I’m actually having to lay down ground rules for you-”

He hears Clint sniggering, the sound muffled like he’s got his palm clamped over his mouth.

“Aw, it’s like you don’t trust me,” Bucky says, all faux-hurt. Tony can just imagine the wounded face he’ll be pulling, all big grey eyes and pouty lower lip. Fuck that; it doesn’t work on Steve and it’s not going to work on Tony.

“I thought Arto didn’t like you, anyway,” Tony says.

“He’s gettin’ there,” Bucky says. “Barton asked him if I could come in, talked me up some. Think it’s best if we get along. Gotta be someone here who can handle it if he goes.”

There’s sense in that, Tony has to admit, though it leaves him feeling hollow at the implication that Bucky is there because Steve isn’t. And the fact that Bucky – who is borderline sociopathic most of the time – is making an effort to interact with Arto when Steve isn’t is definitely not reflecting well on Steve.

But then again, Tony thinks despondently, the kid isn’t Bucky’s. Bucky could choose to walk away right now and no-one could say shit about it. 

“Jarvis, pull up the picture Arto drew,” he murmurs, and in the time it takes him to blink the picture is there in front of him, and Clint was right, it is pretty good. There are several ways to identify the figure in the middle of the screen; the blond hair, the star on the chest of the blue uniform, the red and blue shield that's floating in mid air next to the figure. It’s also all in proportion, which is way better than some of the attempts Tony has seen arrive in with the fan mail. There’s even detail added in the form of buckles on the uniform and the red stripes on his torso. The only incongruence is that the Steve in the picture is smiling.

Without letting himself dwell on it, Tony flicks the image out of existence and gets up out of his chair, hitching the sweatpants up as he pads over to the end of the workshop that houses a small counter and refrigerator. He bypasses the refrigerator without even considering the bottled water or juice inside, and instead pulls a bottle of scotch and a glass out of the cupboard beside it.

He takes both back over to his workbench and slumps back down into his chair. He pauses for a moment, exhausted, and then thinks of Arto, curled up asleep in the bottom of the wardrobe.

He straightens up, lacing his fingers together and pushing his hands up above his head, feeling satisfied clicks in his wrists, shoulders and spine. He holds the position for a moment and then flops back down again, rolling his shoulders and reaching for his drink, taking a mouthful and letting the familiar taste sooth his ragged edges.

“Right, baby. Let’s get rolling,” he says, and turns his attention back to the screens. “Add growling and throwing tantrums when ignored to the database, let’s see if we can find an answer.”


	5. Chapter 5

Steve lies awake, and watches the light of the sun slowly creep up over the wall of his room as it rises. He hasn’t slept at all, hasn’t left his room since Tony stormed out yesterday. He feels peculiar; not upset or angry, just like there’s a lead weight sat in the pit of his stomach. He doesn’t feel a lot at all. It’s hard to believe that it’s only been three days since they went on that mission to answer the distress call. It feels like a lifetime.

_Either you’ve got a lousy sense of self-worth, Steve Rogers, or you think very little of me._

The words echo in his head and he can’t shake them, can’t get rid of the tone that snaps through his mind like a whiplash, cold and cutting. He knows exactly which option it is; he thinks the world of Tony, and he doesn’t get how Tony could think otherwise- 

 _Because I’m a coward,_ he thinks for the hundredth time. He’s a coward who doesn’t face up to his feelings, who doesn’t talk about how he feels when it really matters. It’s making him doubt his earlier conclusions about why Tony was choosing to talk about them as well – maybe it’s not just because of Arto. Maybe the words have always been there, and now that their relationship is being strained by Arto’s appearance, Tony felt that he should confirm what he’d always thought-

Fuck, he just _doesn’t know_. 

He slowly rolls over onto his side, blinking as his eyes become accustomed to being directly in the light. He scratches absently at his sternum, breathing out deeply and deciding that if he’s going to start putting this right, he needs to start sooner rather than later.

“Jarvis, where are Tony and – and Arto?”

He stumbles over the name, unsure of how it feels on his tongue. It’s so hard; all he thinks of when he sees the kid is himself. In a way it’s hard to acknowledge that the kid is more than just a clone of himself, that he’s his own person. 

“Sir is asleep in his workshop, and Arto is sleeping in the wardrobe in his room.”

Steve presses the heel of his palm to his forehead. “Great, that’s two people I’m supposed to be responsible for sleeping in places they shouldn’t be.”

Jarvis, quite tellingly, doesn’t answer.

Steve pushes himself up into a sitting position, shoving his pillows and blankets out of the way and then reaching over his shoulder to carefully prod at the bullet wound. It’s all but gone, just as he expected, and he lets his fingers rub absently over the smooth skin.

“Is,” Steve begins, and shakes himself as he falters again. “Is Arto by himself?” 

“Agent Barton is with him,” Jarvis says without inflection.

“Maybe Clint shout adopt him,” Steve says without any real seriousness behind the words, rubbing his hand up over the back of his head. 

“The criminal and legal records of the rest of the Avengers would render them ineligible as adoption candidates,” Jarvis says matter-of-factly, and Steve’s hand stills. “In fact, were you not technically Arto’s biological father then there is a high probably that child services would not allow him to stay. That is, if you do decide to accept Arto as your child and allow him to stay.”

Somehow, hearing it from Jarvis is a thousand times worse than hearing it from Tony or anyone else. Jarvis is the smartest thing Steve has ever known but he’s still only a machine, numbers and algorithms and learned sensitivity to the human condition. He doesn’t really have emotions, he isn’t invested like they all are. He just states it as it is, and hearing it so simply makes the bottom drop out of Steve’s stomach. If it’s that simple, then why can’t he just fucking do it?

He gets up, unwilling to sit there with his thoughts any longer. He dresses quickly, and then heads out of his quarters and to the elevator. An unavoidable part of him wants to see Tony, so Steve can be reassured he’s okay, because even when Tony is pissed beyond reason at him, Steve still has to know he’s safe. It’s a compulsion he’s long since given up on battling against.

“Workshop, please Jarvis.”

He half expects Jarvis to inform him that his access rights have been revoked, but Jarvis simply replies ‘yes Captain,’ and sends the elevator down.

The workshop is dim when he gets down there, the only light coming from an array of holographic screens that surround Tony’s desk. Tony himself is also at his desk, slumped in the chair and clearly fast asleep. The blue light plays beautifully over his face, and Steve feels his stomach dip. 

He pads slowly closer, unwilling to wake him. When he’s near enough to see the faint shadow of Tony’s eyelashes against his skin he stops, aching to reach out and touch. He won’t though; he’s pretty sure Tony is still going to be furious with him, and he’s still not quite over his own anger at Tony, either. Yeah, he’s made some pretty shitty calls in the past few days, but Tony has been overbearing and demanding and hasn’t even stopped to think what this is like for anyone else- 

Besides, he doesn’t even know if he has the right to touch Tony anymore. 

Steve looks away from Tony’s face up at the screens, unable to watch him any longer.  He blinks and quickly realises what Tony has been doing down here – trying to find answers about Arto and the way he’s behaving. He takes a careful step forwards and reaches out to pull up one of the screens. It’s an article entitled _‘Treatment for Impulsive Aggression in Children and Adolescents: An Open Pilot Study,’_ and looks to be the findings from a clinical drugs trail. A pang goes through him but he flicks his fingers to open another. This one has the heading _‘the role of attachment in the early development of disruptive behaviour problems.’_ A third is ‘ _disorganized infant attachment classification as a predictor of hostile‐aggressive behaviour in the preschool classroom.’_

For a moment, Steve feels completely overwhelmed. This is something he knows nothing about, and it scares the hell out of him. He swipes his fingers through another screen, reading ‘ _subtyping aggression in children and adolescents_ ,’ and starts to feel anxiety twisting sharply in his stomach because he’s been through four screens and he’s already drawn the conclusion that there could be countless explanations for Arto’s behaviour, that he could have something seriously wrong with him and he wouldn’t even know where to start to fix it.

He opens up one last screen. His eyes catch on the words  _trauma_ and  _abuse_ , and he has to step away, his hands clenching unconsciously into fists. God, he  _hates_ Hydra, hates them with every fibre of his being. To put a child through god-knows what just to try and achieve their warped visions-

He makes himself stop, breathing out carefully. Now is not the time to be getting angry about Hydra, no matter how strongly he feels about their latest ventures. He can only hold onto the thought that they have to take down the remnants of Hydra in this universe before they get to the stage they were in Arto’s.

Tony’s breath catches in his chest and he twitches in his sleep, forehead creasing in a frown for a moment before he relaxes again. Steve watches him, waiting to see if he’s going to wake up, but Tony simply shifts and sleeps on. Steve leaves him there, stepping away and leaving the workshop in silence.

He steps into the elevator and just has to take a moment, leaning forwards with his hands braced on the wall and his head dipped low, shoulders tense. His hands tremble and he curls them into fists, dampening down on an urge to punch the wall until his knuckles are raw and bloody. Fuck what he thought about this being like dealing with the Winter Soldier; this is  _worse_ because he knows what to do but this time he’s not sure he can. Everyone else seems to be perfectly able to tell him what he should be doing, but have they actually paused for one goddamn minute to help?

He supposes they have, he thinks wearily, straightening up and rubbing at his eyes with a grimace. They’ve helped the kid, even if he doesn’t feel like there’s anyone helping him, and at the end of the day it’s the kid who’s most important.

God, it’s all such a mess.

He heads to the roof, wanting to get some fresh air and try and shake the pressure he feels. He’s glad that Tony is down in the workshop, because half the roof is visible from the penthouse, and that half includes all his favourite spots to sit. The entire space has become the tower’s unofficial Avenger brooding spot; all of them frequent the roof whenever things get stressful or they want peace and quiet. Natasha and Bruce tend to head to the upper levels, out of sight of the penthouse windows; Thor prefers to stand on the end of Tony’s landing pad, suspended out over the city below; Clint and Bucky are both lunatics and usually end up perched precariously on the metal bars that hold the A in place on the side of the tower. Steve just goes wherever his feet take him.

He heads out through the penthouse, stamping down on the urge to look into the bedroom as he does, only stopping to scoop up a tablet on the way. Holding it held securely in hand, he leaves through the sliding glass door, out into the fresh air and sunlight. He instinctively bypasses the deck and instead walks to sit on the edge of the landing pad, feet dangling off into space. It’s so high that it still gives him a thrill every time he looks down, but it’s also strangely relaxing, being up above the bustle of the world below.

He rests the tablet on one of his thighs and turns it on with a sweep of his fingers. He hesitates for a moment. “Jarvis, you gonna let me have surveillance?”

“That depends on where you wish to look, Captain,” Jarvis’s voice replies through the speaker on the tablet.

“Arto’s room.”

Immediately, a video feed springs open on the tablet, two different camera angles.  In both, Steve can see Clint who is fast asleep and sprawled out in an armchair, slouched so far down it’s a wonder he hasn’t fallen onto the floor. The bed is empty, but Steve’s sharp eyes spot Arto in the second video feed; he’s curled up in the bottom of the wardrobe atop a tangle of bedding, the top half of his face just visible. 

He looks peaceful and calm and Steve finds he’s glad. The kid hasn’t slept properly since he got here, and Steve knows that tiredness is probably attributing to how unmanageable he’s being.  Though maybe a night spent in a wardrobe doesn’t count as proper rest anyway, Steve thinks with a grimace. He supposes it’s better than nothing.

The wind ruffles his hair and he feels his anger and frustration fading as he watches the video feed. Christ, the kid is just so small and vulnerable and looking after him is going to be the biggest job Steve has ever undertaken, and it’s not one that’s _ever_ going to end. As Steve watches, Arto shifts and rolls over, mouth open and hair mussed over his forehead. Even over the video feed Steve can see a smudge of dirt or god-knows what on his forehead and thinks it’s high time someone shoved the kid into a bath. Steve smiles ruefully as he thinks about the effort it always took to get him in a bath when he was eight or nine; he just remembers hating being damp and cold afterwards, and would do pretty much everything he could to avoid bath-night. God, he hopes Arto isn’t the same.

The thought makes him pause. Will Arto actually be anything like him? How much will genetics dictate, and how much will be down to the way he’s been raised, the environment in which he’s grown up?

Behind him, the soft swoosh of the door opening draws his attention.  He automatically thinks _Tony_ and his heart skips, but he turns around to see Natasha walking towards him with a mug in each hand. She’s wearing a pair of sweatpants and a hooded top that looks like one of Clint’s, and her hair is tied back loosely, strands blowing across her face in the breeze.

“Morning,” she says softly, padding over and sitting down next to him. She sets one of the mugs down next to his hip and crosses her legs, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you not have enough adrenaline in your life already?” she asks, gesturing to where he’s sitting.

Steve laughs and shifts around so he’s facing her, mirroring her cross-legged pose. “It’s strangely relaxing,” he says, and picks up the mug. “Thanks.”

“Coulson’s team think they’ve found another Hydra cell,” she says without preamble, sipping at her own drink. “They’re gathering information and then I think they'll want some of us to go in with them.”

“Where?”

“Eighty kilometres north of Bucharest,” she says, and Steve groans. He was expecting another site to appear on American soil, and it's a blow to hear that the threat is potentially spread across continents.

“Really?”

“You don’t have to go,” Natasha says, and Steve nods understanding. He wrinkles his nose, looks up out over the City again, eyes absently passing over the tip of the Baxter Building. 

“I want to go. I’m the best man to be there, and I want to follow through and finish it, make sure it’s finished,” he says, and looks back down, eyes immediately going to the small sleeping figure he can see on the video feed. “But if I have to stay here, then I gotta stay.”

Natasha raises an eyebrow. “Wow, I was expecting more arguing.”

Steve shakes his head. “I know I’ve got to be here for him,” he says, and then under her patient gaze forces the words out. “I just don’t know how.” 

“Yet,” Natasha says simply, and Steve looks up at her. She smiles quietly at him and he smiles weakly back, wishing he had words for how much her quiet support means. She seems to understand without him having to find the words, and reaches out to gently touch his cheek.

“Don’t let him push you,” she warns, and Steve huffs out a depreciating laugh, knowing exactly who she’s talking about.

“I’ll always let him push me,” Steve says with a one-shouldered shrug. “Just wish he knew that, instead of, I don't know. Pushing in all the wrong ways, I guess.”

“Have you ever told him that?”

Steve swallows, feeling his throat click as he does. “Don’t think we’ve ever told each other the stuff that really matters,” he says, and reaches up to rub at his forehead again. “And now I’m not even sure if we’re reading the same book, let alone on the same damn page.”

Natasha doesn’t reply, but Steve doesn’t really know what he’d do with any advice concerning Tony anyway. He’d much rather be given advice on how to deal with a kid that he never planned on having, though doesn’t know if Natasha is really the person to be asking. Hell, he wouldn't bet on _any_ of the Avengers having solid advice about child-rearing to be quite frank, considering their plethora of issues and their pasts.

“So,” she says several long minutes later, eyes on the tablet that’s still propped on Steve’s knee. "He's a cute kid." 

Steve can't disagree with that; he nods, unconsciously rubs his thumb over the image of Arto, inadvertently enlarging the picture under his touch.

“Who are you and what have you done with Natasha Romanov?” he replies, and she reaches out and shoves at his shoulder.

“Hey, I might be maternal,” she says with an arched eyebrow.

“You might be a lot of things,” Steve replies. “Guess we’ll never know.”

She smiles at that, a mischievous quirk of her lips. “Guess you won’t,” she says. “Not until Hydra decide I’m worth cloning, anyway.”

“Don’t,” Steve groans, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t be worth cloning if I wasn’t Captain America.”

“I don’t know,” Natasha replies, taking a delicate sip of her coffee. “The world could probably do well from having a few additional Steve Rogers’ on board.”

Steve is a little taken aback, but smiles all the same. “Thanks,” he says, and then glances at her again, hoping she won't think any less of him for what he's about to ask. “What do you think I should do?”

“Remember that being honest doesn’t always mean not lying,” Natasha says somewhat cryptically. “And maybe consider that if you were to ever have a child of your own…one that could withstand the inevitable kidnappings might actually be your best bet.”

Steve’s jaw drops and he looks up at her. “What do you mean, inevitable?” he asks, oscillating between appalled and dismayed.

She shrugs, looking supremely unconcerned. “You’re Captain America,” she simply says. “They’ll always try and take what’s yours, super-soldier or not.”

“Kidnapping, right,” Steve mutters to himself and drags a hand over his face, though he can’t help but think maybe she’s got a point. It’s not even remotely comforting, to think that any child of his would be an instant target…but would it make Arto any more of a target if people knew he had the serum locked away in his cells?

_Yes_ , is Steve’s immediate response, but he also soberly acknowledges that Arto would be more able to cope with anything happening, purely because of his strength and the healing properties the serum has given him-

“Steve?”

Her voice is soft and questioning, a gentle intrusion into his thoughts. “Just thinking,” he says somewhat absently. “I guess that means I’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t get kidnapped.”

Natasha smiles like he’s finally said the right thing. “Guess we all will,” she says, and salutes him with her coffee mug in a gesture that reminds Steve forcibly of Bucky. She turns her face up towards the sun and closes her eyes, and Steve feels gratitude roll through him like a balm, easing some of his fears.

 _Still wish it could be Tony,_ Steve thinks with an aching pang in his chest. He tries to ignore it and picks up the tablet again, eyes staying fixed on the curled up figure in the bottom of the wardrobe.

 

* * *

 

Tony wakes up with an aching neck and back, and it takes him a moment to realise he’s fallen asleep at his workbench. Grimacing, he sits up and rubs at his neck, trying to dispel the dull pain. It’s been ages since he fell asleep down here; he’s pulled some all-nighters but these days he usually makes it up into his bed to sleep. But then again, these days he normally has Steve in his bed as well, and that hasn’t occurred since they got back from the rescue mission. 

He rubs at his face with his hands and sits up straight in his chair, and then frowns as he looks up at the screens suspended in the air in front of him. There are a couple open that he recognises as articles that he’s already read, and he’s sure he hadn’t re-opened them. 

“J, has someone been messing with my screens?” he asks, voice thick with the tell-tale roughness of early morning. “Did you re-open these for a reason?”

“Captain Rogers came down to the workshop at thirteen minutes past five,” Jarvis tells him, and Tony stills, anger twisting in the pit of his stomach, ugly and raw. “He opened some of the screens.”

“Did he read them?”

“Not fully,” Jarvis says. “He was here for a few minutes, no more.”

Tony huffs out an irritated noise, slumping back in his chair. “What’s he playing at, skulking around like that? If he wanted to know something he should fucking well ask.”

Jarvis doesn’t answer, but Tony didn’t really expect him to. _You avoidant, stubborn dick,_ he thinks viciously, and almost asks Jarvis to revoke Steve’s codes so he can’t get into the workshop anymore. Somewhere under the anger is fear that Tony recognises and hates; as every minute passes, Tony is more and more convinced that Steve isn’t going to say yes to this after all.

The thought of losing Arto cuts Tony like a knife, a sharp swell of pain that he physically feels in his stomach. God, he’s already so attached to the little brat – and he doesn’t care why or how, because it doesn’t change the fact that he wants him to stay. 

“Where’s Arto?”

“Still asleep. Agent Barton is still in the room and is also asleep.”

“Okay, let me know when he wakes up,” Tony instructs, and makes his way out of the workshop. He debates going up to the penthouse and crawling into bed for a couple of hours of proper sleep, but he isn’t sure he’ll be able to sleep with how tightly wound he now feels. Besides, he wants to be awake when Arto gets up. His brain is still full of all the things he’s learned and read, and he wants to see if any of it fits with Arto. Maybe if he’s in a more plaint mood Tony will be able to talk to him. He needs to know more about how Arto was looked after – if it can be even called that – back in the labs, and the only way he’s ever going to know is from Arto himself. He’s not going to bank on it though, but it might be worth a try.

With that in mind, he mentally scraps the option of going back to bed and instead heads over to the cupboards that are in the corner of the workshop, pulling out a clean change of clothes from the stash he has hidden for when he’s either spent far too long in the same clothes or wrecked an item of clothing beyond repair.

“Where the fuck is Steve, anyway?” Tony asks Jarvis as he gets dressed, pulling on his own clothes and leaving Steve's sweats abandoned on the floor of the workshop. “Hiding in his room?”

“Hiding on the roof,” Jarvis corrects. “He’s-”

“No, I don’t care,” Tony interrupts, feeling glad that he didn’t go up to the penthouse if Steve is on the roof. “Whatever he’s doing I don’t care.”

“Sir-”

“No, Jarvis,” Tony says firmly. “Protocol ‘stop talking about Captain fucking America’ is still in effect.”

Jarvis sighs. “As you wish.”

And Tony grits his teeth because he remembers when Steve had first heard Jarvis say that, how his face had lit up and he’d laughed, saying  _‘hey, I get that reference._ ’  Tony had rolled his eyes so hard it had hurt, and Steve had just laughed and laughed and Tony realised that Steve was winding him up on purpose and kissed him to shut him up.

Knowing that Steve isn’t there means that Tony is happy to head to the communal kitchen in search of coffee. Yawning and scratching his chin, he slouches into the kitchen and finds the only other person who hates mornings as much as he does at the counter, scowling at a mug like it’s offended his mother.

“Morning, sunshine.”

Bucky lifts his scowl to Tony, and then he wordlessly twists around and grabs the coffee pot and a mug. He pours a drink and then shoves the mug across the counter towards Tony. A little wary, Tony narrows his eyes and then walks over to take the offered drink.

“What is this, the breakfast meeting of the totally fed up of this shit club?” Tony asks, and Bucky snorts with tired laughter, the scowl relaxing marginally.

“You could say that,” he says, as Tony slides onto one of the stools and reaches for the mug of coffee with a nod of thanks. It’s a little strange; he and Bucky don’t usually hang out unless Steve is with them. It’s not that Tony doesn’t like the guy; he’s got a wicked sense of humour that Tony genuinely appreciates, and when he’s not being a belligerent dick with a shitty attitude he can be pretty fun.

They sit in silence for a few moments, drinking their coffee. Tony watches Bucky for a while, eyes on the join between arm and shoulder and absently wondering how much time it would take to completely replace the plating in the socket-

“He doesn’t get shot just to piss you off, you know.”

Tony stops mid swallow, managing not to cough on his drink by a very thin margin. He puts his mug down and turns to Bucky, but Bucky is staring down at his own drink, expression contemplative.

“I’m not mad at him for getting shot,” he says slowly, frowning at Bucky.

Bucky matches the frown with one of his own. “You seemed pretty mad.”

“Are we really doing this?” Tony asks flatly. “Are we really having this conversation?”

Bucky doesn’t seem remotely abashed. He just shrugs, takes a swallow of his coffee. “He’s my best friend,” he says unapologetically, and then, “are you two going to be okay?”

“There is no us two,” Tony hears himself say, and he immediately wishes he could take the words back. The way Bucky’s face falls makes him wish even more fiercely.

“Wait, what?”

“Cap ain’t interested,” Tony shrugs, picking up his drink and turning away. “Not in it for the long haul.”

Bucky’s mouth literally drops open, his bottom jaw going slack. “Are you actually fucking kidding me right now?” he says, gearing up for another bout of patented Barnes-indignant-rage. “You’re talking about  _Steve Rogers_ .”

“Yes, and Steve Rogers either is not serious about me or doesn’t think that I am serious about him, which sucks either way you look at it,” Tony snaps back. “And if you dare say a word to him about any of this, I will throw Barton out of this tower.”

Bucky looks taken aback for a moment, sufficiently –albeit momentarily – distracted. “Why would you throw Barton out?”

Tony sighs, rubbing at his forehead and suddenly feeling tired. “Because you wouldn’t give a shit if I threw you out, but you’d be all sad if you had no more Barton to play with.”

Bucky just stares at him. “Do you even hear the things that come out of your mouth?”

“Tell me I’m wrong,” Tony shrugs, and Bucky scoffs.

“Please, he’d be fine by himself. And at least I could buy a packet of Oreos without that punk eating half. Anyway, he’s the best babysitter you got, you can’t throw him out.”

“I know,” Tony grimaces. “Not entirely sure how that panned out. I wouldn’t have had Barton pegged as someone who is good with kids.”

“It’s because he’s a giant ten year old,” Bucky says with a shrug.

“Quite possibly,” Tony agrees, and then drains his mug and sets it back down on the counter. “Right, I’m going to go-”

“Sir,” Jarvis interrupts, sounding apologetic. “It appears that Arto is waking up.”

Tony nods. “Okay, change of plan, going to make sure the brat doesn’t beat Barton up.”

“Get me a picture,” Bucky calls as Tony leaves the room.

When he gets to Arto’s room he tiptoes in quietly, not wanting to startle anyone. He spots Clint first; he’s slouched down in the armchair that’s by the window, chin nearly touching his chest, elbow on the arm and fist propping up his head. Edging further into the room, Tony smiles weakly as he spots Arto, curled up in the bottom of the built in wardrobe. The mirrored door is slid back, and Arto is easily visible amidst the tangle of blankets and pillows that he’s dragged in with him. Even as Tony watches, he yawns and lifts a small fist to rub sleepily at his eyes.

“Hey, little one,” Tony says, sitting on the edge of the bed so Arto is in sight. Arto twists around immediately but seems to relax when he spots it’s Tony, yawning again and blinking at him sleepily. He slips three of his fingers into his mouth, and Tony isn’t quite sure if that’s disgusting or cute or both.

“He awake?” a rough voice says from behind him, and Tony glances over to see Clint’s eyes are open.

“Yeah, mostly,” Tony replies, and Clint pushes himself up into a sitting position, reaching up and stretching. His back clicks audibly and he groans in relief, before planting his hands on the arms of the chair and heaving himself up and out of it. “Coffee. Coffee, coffee, coffee. Back in a bit, short round. Coffee.”

Arto lifts his eyes and watches Clint walk out of the room. Tony braces himself but Arto simply sighs and burrows back down into his blankets, though his eyes stay visible, bright blue and fixed on Tony.

“Wanna come out?” Tony asks. “If you stay in the wardrobe people might think you’re crazy.”

Arto lifts his head again, fingers still in his mouth. Tony holds out a hand, and Arto looks around the room and then nods. He slowly clambers out of the wardrobe and makes a beeline for Tony, grasping hold of his hand and allowing himself to be pulled up onto Tony’s knee.

“You like sitting with people, huh?” Tony asks as Arto curls up, sitting sideways on his lap and tucking his head under Tony’s chin.

Arto shakes his head, but reaches out and fists the fabric of Tony’s shirt in one small hand. It’s covered in dirt and Tony mentally notes to get the kid washed up at some point today. Arto shifts restlessly on Tony’s lap, and as he turns his head his chin catches against the edge of the arc-reactor. Frowning, he pulls his fingers out of his mouth and curiously pokes at Tony’s chest, fingers tracing around the rim of the reactor.

“Light,” he says inquisitively, and he twists around so he can use both hands, pressing his hands to Tony’s chest and framing the edge of the arc-reactor with his thumbs and forefingers, pressing Tony’s shirt flush against it. “I like your light.”

“Good,” Tony says. “It’s a marvel of engineering, you should like it.”

Arto scrunches his nose up, evidently not following.

“I made it,” Tony says. “That’s what engineering is, when you think of something amazing and build it all yourself.”

“Why?”

“Because my heart wasn’t working so great. Now it is,” Tony explains simply. Arto cocks his head for a moment and then nods, apparently satisfied with the explanation.

“Right. Let’s go find Clint and breakfast.”

“No,” Arto says, shaking his head, and then says, “Steve.”

Tony feels his insides churn, the anger evidently not quite as gone as he’d assumed. “Steve isn’t about,” he says. “You’ll have to put up with me and Clint for now.”

Arto shakes his head again. “Steve.”

Frustration wells up in Tony’s gut, and he distractedly thinks that it’s almost like he and Steve got divorced and are having to share the damn kid. A part of him wants to take Arto straight to Steve now, to give him what he wants, but another uglier part of him doesn’t want Arto anywhere near Steve when he’s being like this.

“Breakfast and then we’ll find Steve,” he says, and Arto whines and kicks his feet restlessly. Tony curses internally because if Arto decides to have a tantrum about it he might  _have_ to fetch Steve and then he’ll think that he can get Steve anytime he wants just by pitching a fit-

“Steve is just doing some jobs,” he lies. “Come on. Breakfast and then we’ll find him, no kicking or I’ll have to get Bucky to come pin your feet down.”

Arto shakes his head violently. “No.”

“Well then no temper tantrum about it, you know you’re stronger than me and I don’t want to be hurt this morning,” Tony says frankly. "You play nice with me or I fetch Bucky."

Arto scowls, his feet still swinging back and forth. The petulant frown is so like the one Steve wears when he’s tired and annoyed, but Tony is past finding it endearing. He’s got a big problem here and he knows it; the kid still obviously has a thing for Steve but if Steve doesn’t want anything to do with him, then he’s going to have to work something else out. Fuck, if Steve had just stepped up from the start then they wouldn’t be having this problem at all.

“Come on,” Tony says, and picks Arto up and sets him on the floor. “Lucky Charms for you, coffee for me.”

Taking a gamble, he stands up and walks towards the door, and to his relief Arto follows him. Tony glances back over his shoulder every now and again, but Arto follows without further objection or complaint.

Remembering what Jarvis had said about Arto objecting to the elevator the previous day, Tony takes the stairs instead. It’s an interesting choice, because Arto decides that walking is apparently for losers and hops up the stairs on one leg. Somewhere between amused and exasperated, Tony watches him with eagle-eyes as Arto hops easily up each step. “So, just out of curiosity. Why do you like Steve?”

Arto doesn’t look up, face a mask of concentration as he bends and hops up another step, arms thrown out for balance. “He’s the strongest.”

Tony pauses, hand on the bannister. “You like him because he’s the strongest,” Tony repeats back at him, and it’s hard to keep the scepticism out of his voice.

“Doctor Enyo says stronger is better,” Arto says and hops up the last three steps in quick succession. Tony immediately reaches to steady him but there’s no need; Arto straightens up and carries on walking. “S’why I have to do exercises every day because it makes me stronger.”

The snippet of information is more telling than Arto intended, and Tony jumps on it immediately. “They made you do exercise every day?”

"Yeah.”

“Like what?”

“Running,” Arto says. “On a thing. It moves and I keep running.”

“A treadmill,” Tony supplies, and Arto nods.

“Running and lifting and exercises,” Arto says, stretching his hands above his head. “Like this.”

“Did you like exercising?” Tony asks neutrally and Arto nods.

“Not Doctor Sampson,” he says. “He did tests and stuff.”

“Medical tests? Like checking your heart and how your body is working, things like that?”

Arto nods again, and Tony notices how he curls his arms up, pressing the insides of his arms to his chest. The move is so defensive that Tony could cry, and he mentally notes that if they ever have to do a blood test on Arto, they’ll have to sedate him first.

“Was it just doctors there?” Tony asks, and he’s hoping that Arto will keep talking because this is the exact kind of thing that he needs to know to make sense of Arto and his behaviour.

"No. Doctors and Eleanor. She brought me food and my clothes and stuff.”

“Eleanor. Nice name. Was she nice?”

Arto doesn’t answer the question. “Isn’t my Mom,” he says, like it’s an important distinction to make. Maybe to him, it is.

“Did you know your Mom?”

“No,” Arto says and then looks around him, eyes lighting up. “I know where we are.”

 "You remember from yesterday?”

Arto nods and quickens his pace a little, but stops when they reach the end of the corridor, where it widens out into the communal space. Tony catches up a step later and spots the reason for Arto’s sudden halt; Bucky is still there, sat at the kitchen counter and now reading a file, frowning down at it. He glances up irritably when he hears them approach, and then his expression softens a little.

“Morning, short round,” he says, looking back down at the files. “What did you do to Barton, did you beat him up? Is he crying in a corner somewhere?”

Arto narrows his eyes like he can’t quite work Bucky out. “No,” he says slowly, and then looks up to Tony as if he can help make sense of the strange man with the metal arm.

“Barton said he was coming to get coffee,” Tony says and wanders into the kitchen, deciding that the best approach is to just act normal and hope that Bucky doesn't do anything to freak Arto out. “Apparently he got lost on the way.”

He reaches out to open the fridge and pauses as he feels a thump at his hip. Arto is there next to him, grabbing hold of the counter and climbing up, using the sleek chrome drawer handles as footholds. He scrambles up easily but with a remarkable lack of finesse, and stands up on the counter, reaching for the cupboard that Tony suspects has cereal in.

“Hey, hey, no standing on the counters,” Tony says. “My common sense is tingling, you are not supposed to be up here.”

“Barton lets him,” Bucky calls from his perch at the island.

“Barton lets me,” Arto crows and pulls the cupboard open, liberating a box of Lucky Charms. Tony takes them from him and turns to set them on the island counter, before turning back to watch with amusement that he probably shouldn’t show as Arto walks the length of the counter, opening another cupboard and holding out a bowl.  Tony takes it from him and sets it on the counter next to the cereal and is about to turn to the refrigerator for milk when he spots Arto look from his feet to the island and then back to his feet again in a horribly telling way.

“Arto, no!”

He’s too late; Arto crouches slightly and jumps the gap, landing on the island counter in a sprawl of limbs and nearly sliding straight into Bucky and his paperwork.

“No, no, _no_ jumping, are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack,” he demands as Arto grins and crawls over the counter towards him. Tony reaches for him, one hand on his shoulder and the other pushing his hair back from his forehead and checking for blood and bumps and concussions. “Seriously, small child. No death defying stunts before I’ve had my coffee. Did Barton teach you that?”

“No,” Arto says, and kneels on the counter, pulling back and reaching for the box of Lucky Charms, which he promptly upends all over the counter. Bucky makes a choked sound as he bites back a laugh and Tony just stares, mouth hanging slightly open.

“Why,” he begins, expression pained. “Why did you get a bowl if you’re going to eat off the counter like some sort of feral creature?”

“Barton says have to have a bowl,” Arto says, and begins picking out the marshmallow pieces from amongst the cereal and dropping them into his bowl.

Tony’s mouth works for a moment. “Well now it all makes perfect sense,” he says, deciding not to take issue with the counter climbing and marshmallow eating, because  if the kid is willing to eat something without being coerced, Tony isn’t going to argue. He pours himself a mug of coffee and leans back against the counter, drinking it slowly whilst watching Arto fish out all the marshmallows, occasionally eating one as he goes.

“You know you will one day have to eat something other than marshmallow,” Tony tells him, and Arto just hums noncommittally and pops another into his mouth before looking up at Tony, uncertain.

“Bathroom,” he says, and Tony nods easily.

“You know where it is? You want to go by yourself or do you need me to come with?”

“Myself,” Arto says, and shimmies to the edge of the counter, dangling his feet off the edge before slipping off. He darts away, and Tony watches him go a tired smile playing around the corner of his mouth. Considering the rocky start, he’s quietly pleased with how Arto’s morning is going so far, and is certainly glad that Arto seems to have forgotten about wanting Steve for now.

“Marshmallows for breakfast, definite A plus parenting there,” Bucky’s sarcastic voice interrupts his thoughts.

“At least I’m here,” he retorts, and Bucky sighs explosively, smacking a hand down on the counter and obviously getting the implication in the words.

“Jesus, can you cut him some slack for like five fucking minutes?” he says, exasperated.

“Can he step up and do the right thing for five minutes?” Tony counters.

“It’s been three days-!”

There’s a noise over by the elevator. Distracted, Tony turns towards it, and the bottom drops out of his stomach as he sees Natasha, Clint  _and_ Steve stepping out and walking over. Tony and Bucky both abruptly shut their mouths, though Tony can’t quite smooth out the scowl that he knows is on his face and Bucky is still glaring daggers at him. Steve quite pointedly does not look at Tony, and the atmosphere in the room turns from angry to awkward in three seconds flat.

“Morning,” Natasha says easily, eyes flicking from Bucky to Tony like she knows what’s going on. Of course she does, she always does.

“This report is a piece of shit, Barton,” Bucky says by way of greeting, and Clint replies with a rude gesture before hopping up on the counter next to Bucky and snagging the file. Natasha wanders over to the refrigerator, and Tony watches as Steve walks around the counter to the coffee pot, completely ignoring Tony as he does. Not that Steve would ever usually make a fuss over Tony being there when there were others about, but it’s different now, isn’t it? Shit, if only they knew the fucking rules for it being different, then they might actually get somewhere-

“Steve!”

Steve twists around reflexively at the shout of his name, and Tony watches as Arto re-appears, pelting across the floor towards Steve and skidding to a stop next to him. Arto reaches out and grabs hold of the bottom of Steve’s shirt with both hands, eyes wide and earnest. It cuts Tony to the bone, that Steve has done nothing to earn that look of trust, that he’s going to ship Arto off the first chance he gets and Arto still fucking trusts him just because he’s the  _strongest_ .

“Hey,” Steve says uncertainly, and hesitates visibly. Arto pulls at his shirt with one hand, reaching up higher with the other, and Steve looks completely lost.

“He probably wants picking up,” Tony says, and Steve’s head jerks up like the words were a slap. His jaw tightens but he does deign to reach down and lift Arto up, though he sets him on the counter next to him instead of holding him properly. Arto whines wordlessly and pushes at Steve’s shoulder, and Steve again freezes for a moment before he capitulates and takes Arto again, this time holding him on his hip with an arm looped under his legs, easily holding him up. Steve eyes flick up to Tony and the others and there’s a dull pink flush staining his cheekbones, and Tony is trying to work out what the expression is-

A soft beeping noise comes from Natasha’s form and she pulls her phone out of the pocket of her sweats, gently shaking a container full of what looks like a smoothie in her other hand. She looks at the screen, face impassive.

“Briefing at one,” she says. “Steve, me and you. And Coulson says,” she adds, looking over at Bucky and Clint, “that you two need to hand in your reports from Chicago or he’s coming to get them personally.”

“Whoa, whoa, brief for what?” Tony demands, looking at Steve, and he cannot fucking believe it. Anger flares up in him, quick and effortless, and what has Steve done to him to be able to make him so angry so easily? “You are  _not_ going anywhere.”

Steve’s expression goes dark like a thundercloud, and Tony spots the brewing temper with vindictive satisfaction. “I will if I’m needed,” he snaps, and then seems to make a physical effort to reign in his anger. “Tony, can we talk-”

“You know what, no,” Tony says, and he’s so angry he’s not even thinking about the words that are tumbling free. “Go. Go on your mission and do whatever you need to do, because you’re doing a lousy job here anyway. Fuck, with everything you’ve been through you’d think you could be a half decent father, but I’m actually starting to think we’ll do better without you anyway.”

Bucky’s chair screeches back and he makes a violent move towards Tony, but Clint grabs him and shoves him back into the chair, an arm around Bucky’s neck in something that’s not quite a headlock but not quite a hug either. “Get off,” he snarls, but Clint yanks him hard and mutters something in his ear; Bucky stops fighting against him but his eyes don’t leave Tony, his stare threatening and downright dangerous.

Steve doesn’t even notice; his mouth falls open and he takes a physical step back away from Tony, his face going blotchy pink and brows drawing tight. His expression literally crumples and Tony feels awful and immediate panic slice through him because fuck, no,  _no_ , he expected anger and an argument, retaliatory words, expected that he could push Steve to – to – shit, he doesn’t even know anymore-

“Steve-”

“I gotta go,” Steve says and his voice is shaking violently and he swings Arto back onto the counter. Arto grabs for him and Steve catches both small hands in his.  “I’ll come back in a bit,” he says unsteadily to Arto, meeting his wide gaze and pulling Arto’s hands unconsciously up towards his face. “I’ll come back,” he repeats and then he lets go of Arto’s hands and steps away.

“Steve-” Tony tries, and Steve looks at him with that awful expression on his face. He looks so, so lost and out of his depth and it hits Tony like a ton of bricks. He’s not seen that look on Steve’s face since they realised who the Winter Soldier was, all that time ago, and it hits him in the gut in a painful lurch.

Fuck, Steve isn’t just being stubborn. Steve is scared shitless.

Oh god, he’s fucked this up _so_ badly.

“Steve I’m – Steve! I didn’t mean that,” Tony tries, voice cracking, but Steve is already backing away, running away, shaking his head and looking like he’s four seconds from punching something or bursting into tears. _No_ , Tony wants to tell him.  _Don’t you dare run,_ he thinks, but he's too late. Steve is already gone.

 


	6. Chapter 6

“I could fucking _kill_ you, you absolute fucking-!”

Bucky’s explosive tirade is cut off by Clint, who grabs him in another headlock and slaps his palm over his mouth. Bucky immediately attempts to jerks away but Clint holds firm, staggering slightly on one foot as he struggles to keep hold of him.

“Not in front of Short-Round!” Clint insists angrily, and Bucky’s ferocious gaze jerks over towards Arto, as if he’d forgotten he was there. He immediately stops trying to fight free, holding his hands up by his shoulders and looking up at Clint with eyes that are vaguely apologetic. Clint lets him go with a shove, hard enough to rock the stool and Bucky scowls, rubbing his neck.

“Did you hear what he fucking said-?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Someone needs to go after Steve,” Natasha interrupts, raising her voice over the pair of them, and Tony knows he should probably weigh in as well but he can barely grab hold of a single coherent thought out of the multitude that are crashing frenetically around in his brain. “Jarvis, don’t let him leave the tower-”

“I’m afraid Captain Rogers has already requested that I keep the parking garage unlocked and accessible,” Jarvis says. “Only Sir can override his request if he is not in immediate harm-”

“I’m going to get him,” Natasha makes for the door, but Bucky lunges out of his chair and grabs her wrist.

“Don’t,” he says curtly.

“He can’t just leave every time anything gets rough,” Natasha begins, her voice careful and very deliberate, and wow, by the sounds of it Tony isn’t the only one in the firing line.

“I know, I know, I’ll go get him, just let me,” Bucky insists, and she looks at him for a long moment before nodding, though she doesn’t look entirely convinced. Bucky nods back, and then he promptly grabs her and shoves her over away in the opposite direction of the elevator. He puts enough force behind it to send her staggering back several steps, and even though she rights herself within seconds, he’s already at the elevator, sliding in and slapping his hand on the panel.

“James Barnes!” Natasha snarls, but the elevator is already gone. " _Zhopa,_ ” she curses, and heads towards the stairs.

“Tasha, don’t!” Clint shouts, and by some miracle she actually listens to him and stops.

“Let them go, Barnes’ll bring him back when he’s ready,” Clint says, and she eyes him tightly for a moment and then nods. Clint nods in return and Tony watches as he then walks over to where Arto is still sitting on the counter, looking from Clint to Tony with wide eyes. He hasn’t so much as moved since Steve walked out, and his eyes are suspiciously bright.

“Alright?” Clint asks, and Arto’s chin trembles, his hands balling into fists. Tony takes a step forwards but Clint is already there, holding out his arms for Arto to scramble into, slipping gracelessly off the edge of the counter and tumbling into Clint’s grip.

“Hey, watch the squeezing,” Clint says as Arto clings to his front with arms around his neck and legs around his middle. “Ow, Jesus. Kid, seriously-”

He tried to shift Arto, his expression pained. Tony and Natasha both step forwards but Clint waves them off. “We’re okay,” he says, breathing in and out more easily now Arto has eased his grip on Clint’s ribs. “Hey, short round. Chin up, and listen to me. Come on, lift up a little-”

He manages to get Arto’s face up enough so he can murmur to him, and Tony can just about make out the words. “This is not your fault,” Clint says to Arto, right into his ear. “Those two morons are fighting with each other, and it’s not because of you, you get that? It’s not your fault, I promise.”

Tony feels a lump in his own throat, tries to find some words. Gives up and listens, instead.

“See, Tony and Steve are two giant idiots who love each other so much they drive each other crazy,” Clint says to Arto, and Tony feels an alarmed wave of something – a thrill of panic, denial and acceptance all rolled into one – spike through him, but Clint doesn’t stop, just hitches Arto up and continues to speak to him. “Sometimes they argue, and they forget to talk properly because they're idiots. But they both want what’s best for you, right?”

Arto moves his head restlessly, feet kicking gently against Clint’s thigh. He makes a noise, but Tony can’t tell whether it’s a word or just noise-

“He’ll come back, he always does,” Clint says, and Tony realises what the sound must have been. “He’s just mad at Tony. Come on, let’s go play computer games until he gets back, yeah?” 

His eyes meet Tony’s for a moment over the top of Arto’s head and Tony feels his gut swoop because Clint doesn’t look angry or even disappointed, he just looks completely neutral, like he’s doing what he’s got to do, like he’s been there countless times before.

“Fix it, yeah?” he says quietly to Tony, and then takes Arto out of the room without looking back. Part of Tony wants to stop him, to keep Arto with him, but a larger part knows that Clint is doing the right thing.

Good job somebody is.

“He should have let Bucky at you,” Natasha says icily when Arto and Clint are gone, and Tony barely supresses the flinch. “Have you _any_ idea what you’ve just done, how much you’ve just hurt him-?”

“Yes,” Tony cuts over her, voice cracking. “Jesus, _yes._ ”

“Do you know what he was doing when I found him on the roof this morning?” Natasha demands and she's possibly even more beautiful when she's furious. “He was sitting there watching the security feed from Arto’s room, just watching him sleeping.”

He didn’t think it was possible, but Tony’s stomach sinks even further. “I didn’t know.” 

“No, you didn’t,” Natasha snaps. “Because you were looking for a grand, Tony-Stark-size gesture, and you missed every little thing he did-”

“I thought he was going to send him away!” Tony shouts back. “Fuck, Nat – he never once said-”

“Neither of you have an excuse,” he says cuttingly. “ _Neither_ of you. You have both fucked this up by not listening, by not talking to each other, and you have left that small child in the middle of this mess.”

Tony stares at a spot on the wall, jaw clenched and eyes bright. He doesn’t dare say anything, because he’s afraid that if he opens his mouth he’ll break down completely.

“You two need each other like air,” she says, voice quieter but still like steel, unyielding and not to be ignored. “We’ve always known it, even when you didn’t want to show us. And now that child needs you both. So get it together.”

“I don’t think-”

“You can fix this, and you will,” Natasha interrupts. “You two not working is _not an option_.”

Tony stares at her, and feels the strained tangle of feelings in his chest abate slowly. He breathes out shakily and then in again, trying to order the torrent of thoughts in his head. He needs to check in with Arto, and he needs to make things right with Steve, and he needs to make sure Bucky Barnes isn’t going to kill anyone-

Steve first.

Going with his instincts, he decides on Steve. Because if he has Steve on side then between them they can work on Arto, and if he has Steve on side then Bucky Barnes is less likely to kill _him._

And if he has Steve on side, he thinks with his heart aching, he gets Steve back.

He pulls his phone out his pocket and hits speed dial. Steve's phone goes straight to voicemail and he curses and hangs up, shoving his fingers into his hair and gripping tight. He pauses only for a second and then tries Bucky’s phone. This time it rings and rings and rings and _then_ goes to voicemail.

“Fucking super-soldiers,” he curses, and presses the phone hard against his mouth, contemplative. “Natasha, give me a moment,” he says, words forced out past his phone. “Please.”

She narrows her eyes at him but does deign to step away, heading towards the elevator. Tony breathes out and watches her go, and only when the elevator doors slide shut does he look at his phone again. Part of him still hasn’t forgiven Steve for everything he’s done over the past few days, but he has to wrestle that part down into submission, because Natasha is right; they’ve both fucked up here.

Tony abruptly remembers what he said to Steve yesterday, about Steve either not believing in him or having a low opinion of himself, and he swallows thickly because all evidence now actually points to it being the latter. Eyes feeling far too warm, he hits speed-dial again. 

The phone goes straight to voicemail, and this time Tony doesn’t hang up.

 

* * *

 

Steve doesn’t even think. He just takes the stairs, blindly heading down to the garage in the basement of the tower. He’s got to get out, get away. If he doesn’t, he’s going to do or say something he’ll regret for the rest of his life.

He feels so violently close to tears and he can’t stand it. He hates appearing weak, especially now he’s supposed to lead the Avengers. He knows he’s running away again but he doesn’t care; he needs to get away from the kid, from Tony, from everyone.

In that moment he hates Tony, hates how he can strip him down and ruin him with nothing more than cutting words. He’s never been so vulnerable since he let Tony in, and it hasn’t mattered until now, has _never_ felt like this before. He doesn’t think he even realised it until now.

His keys are in one hand and his boots are in the other; he stops only to shove them onto his feet and then clambers onto his bike, turning the engine on and shoving it forwards, rocking it forwards off the stand. The garage door opens automatically with a soft hum and the clack of metal rollers. Sunlight streams in onto the concrete, glinting off the sleek cars closest to the door.

The bike is on the ramp and the shutter is almost all the way up when Steve hears a thud and running footsteps. He glances over his shoulder and his heart sinks as he sees Bucky racing across the parking garage, a helmet in each hand.  If it were anyone but Bucky, he’d probably gun it and leave them there.

“Don’t even think about it,” Bucky yells as if he knows exactly what Steve was thinking, and he runs up to the bike and vaults easily onto the back behind Steve, just like he used to do. He hits Steve on the shoulder with one of the helmets and Steve pulls a face but obliges and takes it from him, flipping it over and fishing out the straps.

Bucky pulls his own helmet on and Steve braces his legs as Bucky lifts his feet off the floor, his full weight balanced on the bike. One hand grabs the back of Steve’s jacket, and the other settles on his waist, and he squeezes Steve with his knees.

"Natasha’s on the move, go,” he says, before slapping down the visor with a palm, hiding his face from view.

Steve doesn’t need to be told twice. He pulls the helmet on and clips it up, snapping the visor down before gunning the engine and sending the bike screeching up and out into the sunlight. The breeze tugs at his jacket and hands and he inwardly curses the helmet he’s wearing, wishing he could have the fresh air on his face.  Bucky is a warm solid presence behind him, though Steve hasn’t yet decided if it’s a welcome one or not.

He guides the bike quickly and easily through the traffic, heading out of the city. He doesn’t really know where he’s going, he knows he just wants to be away. He loves the city, loves it fiercely and protectively, but right now he just wants to be away from the bustle, away from home.

He drives for well over an hour, moving steadily North-West until the suburbs give way to open space, fields and forests punctuated by small towns. Bucky doesn’t make so much as a sound, just sits back and lets Steve take them away.

It’s nearly two hours before he finally decides to stop, pulling the bike off the main road and onto a more secluded road that’s little more than a track, probably an access road or something similar. A little way along, there’s a space where the trees have been kept back, a small grassy area that’s quiet and still. He rolls the bike off the road and stops, and as he turns the engine off and takes his helmet off all he can hear is Bucky shifting, the wind in the trees and the buzz of insects in the air.

“This is like the start of every horror film I’ve ever watched,” Bucky’s voice says, muffled slightly before he tugs his helmet free. He’s sweating, hair curled damp over his brow and around his ears, and he wipes his wrist over his forehead. He sets the helmet aside and shrugs off his jacket, the sunlight gleaming on his arm. “Two good lookin’ guys alone in the woods, miles from help. Definitely a set-up for murder and gore.”

Steve hasn’t watched any modern horror films, and he knows exactly who is to blame for introducing Bucky to the damn things, but he doesn’t comment. He just kicks the bike’s stand down and climbs off, taking his jacket off and slinging it over the seat of the bike. He turns, not wanting Bucky to see his face right now, walking a few steps away and then sitting down on the grass, dropping his helmet next to him. He can hear running water not too far away as well, maybe a stream or a river.

He hears Bucky moving next to him, the grass swishing against his boots.

“Hey,” Bucky says, voice low. “Steve. You know he didn’t mean it.”

Steve bursts into tears.

He opens his mouth to reply and suddenly he’s crying and he can’t stop it. Humiliation slices him up from the inside and he covers his face with his hand but it’s like he’s shaking apart from his very core, his whole body shuddering with the force of it. Everything he’s tries to ignore comes rushing up, and he has no idea what he’s doing, and he misses Tony so much it  _hurts_ , and he’s got to look after this kid, he’s got to be a father and he doesn’t know how. What if he hurts him? What if he fucks it up, and the whole damn world is watching? What if he can’t do it? What if being a father and Captain America doesn’t work, and he lets someone down, someone gets hurt because he’s trying to be both-

Bucky’s metal hand clamps down on his shoulder and squeezes tight.

“I can’t do this,” Steve manages to get out, and Bucky crouches down next to him and pulls Steve around, using the strength in his cybernetic arm to get Steve to move. Steve resists but Bucky is nearly as strong as he is and Steve is in such a mess that he can’t do it for long. He ends up curled over into Bucky, with Bucky holding his head to him, one hand on the back of his head and the other arm over his shoulders, hand fisted in his shirt.

“I got you,” Bucky says calmly and it just makes Steve cry harder. Cool metal fingers stroke the back of his neck and he feels five foot four all over again, bruised and battered and in Bucky’s hands. He coughs, drags his hand down his face and plants it in Bucky’s chest, pushing him back.

 Jesus,” he chokes out. “Sorry.”

“Shut up, jerk,” Bucky rolls his eyes and sits back as Steve takes several deep breaths and pulls himself together. He takes several long minutes of just sitting and focussing on breathing in and out through his mouth, willing his emotions back into some semblance of order.

“Jesus, you do not cry pretty, Rogers,” Bucky says after a long while, and Steve lets out a choked laugh, wiping his fingers under his nose and then rubbing at his eyes with his knuckles.

"I’ve messed it all up, Buck,” he says, voice sounding remarkably steady, though it’s deep and thick with tears. “God, I’ve not done right by any of them. By the kid, by Tony. Not any of you.”

“Don’t be such a sad-sack,” Bucky responds. “This isn’t just on you.”

“But-”

“No,” Bucky says, and jabs a metal finger at him. “This fuck up is on both of you. More on him, actually.”

“Bucky,” Steve tries, tone reigned.

“I will kill him if he ever talks to you like that again,” Bucky says calmly.

“Bucky,” Steve says again, but Bucky just stares belligerently back. Steve sighs, rubs at his aching temples. “Please don’t kill him. You said he didn’t mean it, anyway.”

Bucky pulls a face. “I don’t think he did,” he grudgingly admits. “I think he was mad at you avoiding everything and lashed out.”

Steve feels the anxiety and fear bubbling in his chest again, his eyes feeling far too warm. “Didn’t know how else to deal with it,” he admits. He thinks of the vicious look on Tony’s face when he’d said those cruel words, thinks about Arto crying and punching him in the shoulder, trying to wrest free from his grip. Thinks about Tony sleeping in the workshop with the blue glow of the screens on his face, and Arto curled up in the bottom of the wardrobe.

“I don’t feel anything, Buck,” Steve confesses, and the words feel like they’re being dragged out of him under duress. He drags his fingers through the grass, feeling some of it rip up beneath his fingers as he forces himself to keep talking. “With the kid. I just look at him and think Christ, why has this happened?”

Bucky is silent for a long moment. “You’re freaking out because you didn’t go all paternal the minute you clocked eyes on the kid?”

“Amongst other things, yeah.”

“Okay, you need to stop reading dime-store romance novels and watching rom-coms,” Bucky says matter-of-factly. “Love isn’t always this magical thing that goes smooth, or comes in a rush. You have to work for it. It’s not fun and easy, if it were we’d all be singing and dancing and life would be all rainbows and goddamn sparkles.”

“Yeah, I can totally imagine you singing about rainbows and sparkles.”

“That’s my point, asshole,” Bucky scowls. “Look at me. Look at Barton, look at Stark. Hell, look at all the Avengers. Look at ninety percent of the population. We’ve all landed our asses in trouble because of love, because it’s not easy. It’s hard.”

“Then why bother?”

“Because it’s fucking worth it when you get there, you meatball,” Bucky says, twisting around and leaning back on his elbow, crossing his legs at the ankle.  “God, I can’t believe  _I’m_ having to give  _you_ this speech. Look – so what that you didn’t feel love for this kid the moment you saw him. Who the fuck cares? But it ain’t gonna happen with you a hundred miles away from him. Give it a few weeks. Hell, give it a few months. Give it a fucking year, but I know you and I know you’ll get there. One day you’ll look at him and feel so much fucking love you’ll forget you ever didn’t.”

Steve stares at Bucky for a moment and then reaches over and grabs him around the neck, pulling him close enough so that he can wrap both arms around his shoulders and squeeze him tight. Bucky lets out an indignant squawk, trying to wriggle free and protesting violently.

“Christ, Rogers, get off! Aw, come on, Steve-”

Bucky’s protesting turns into laughter as Steve simply tips them backwards, so they  end up on the ground in an untidy sprawl of tangled limbs, Steve’s face buried in the back of Bucky’s shoulder.

“You really think?” Steve asks, voice muffled. He can feel both the warmth of Bucky’s skin and the cool edge of metal against his face, but he doesn’t mind. The weight on his heart seems to have eased slightly, everything seeming slightly less daunting than it did before.

“I’m right,” Bucky says, as self-assured as he was back in forty-one, all confidence and swagger. “Look, I love your punk ass even though you’re a self-righteous pain. Stark loves you even though you’ve screwed up big time.”

Steve goes still for a second, before rolling away from Bucky and staring up at the sky above him, stomach tightening again.

“What?”

“Just,” Steve says, blinking. “Tony.”

“I literally have no idea how you two make that train-wreck work, so don’t ask me,” Bucky says. “But I do know he says you are more out than in at the moment, so you must have fucked up somewhere.”

Steve nods, not even bothering to deny it. “He tried to talk to me about – about us.”

“And you did something stupid?”

Steve winces. “May have assumed he was only bringing it up because of the kid?”

Bucky groans, shaking his head. “You’re an idiot. You’re the biggest idiot I know, and I know Barton.”

Steve scowls at Bucky. “Gee, thanks.”

“Telling it like it is,” he says with a shrug.

Steve lifts an arm, covers his eyes. “He’s so mad at me,” he says tonelessly. “I’ve never – he’s never thought so bad  of me.”

“So what? Lovers spat. You can always fix it.”

Steve sighs, sits up and rests his elbows on his knees. “It’s not that easy." 

“Like hell it isn’t,” Bucky insists. “Steve, you basically found out you’re a father, with no warning. Under those circumstances you’re allowed to make bad decisions. Hell, if Tony had found out he was a daddy he’d have been on the first jet outta here. He probably wouldn’t even have waited for a jet, he woulda Iron-Manned his way out.”

Steve laughs again, short and full of self-depreciation. “He seems to have stepped up to looking after this kid just fine.”

“That’s because the kid looks like you and he’s in love with you, dumbass.”

For a moment, Steve wonders if he’s going to start crying all over again. “You reckon?" 

He jerks forwards, startled as Bucky smacks him around the back of the head, just hard enough for it to hurt. He twists around, looking at Bucky indignantly and rubbing the back of his head. “Hey, what the hell?”

“Stop _avoiding_ things,” Bucky says, despairing. “You’re telling me you never acknowledged that Stark is quite clearly balls over ass in love with you?”

“Balls over ass, I can really see that turn of phrase catching on.”

“Stop with the sarcasm too,” Bucky says shortly. “Stop avoiding, man up and accept that Stark loves you, and that you’re going to turn that bike around, go home and do right by that kid." 

Steve nods jerkily and shut his eyes for a long moment. He shifts his weight more evenly onto his back and puts his free hand under his head as a pillow. Bucky shifts so he’s propped up on his elbows again, leaning back and still close enough to Steve that their arms just about touch.

He breathes out heavily, opening his eyes and blinking up at the blue sky above them.  He wonders momentarily if it would work if he accepted Arto as his own legally, but let someone else care for him. It’s only a half-hearted thought though, because one of the issues is that he’s one of the only ones strong enough to deal with Arto’s enhanced strength. Add to that the facts that Arto looks like him, and appears to be inexplicably attached to him, and there’s really only one solution.

 “I’m not ready to be a father, Buck.”

“Tough shit,” is the simple reply. “Give it a chance. You’ll deal. Might even find you like it.” 

Steve doesn’t reply, and Bucky gently nudges him with his knee. “Come on. You can crash a plane in the goddamn arctic to save the world; you can suck it up just for one kid. That’s a minor amount of self-sacrifice when you put it all in perspective.”

Steve considers that, and feels the lead weight in his stomach shift slightly. “Yeah,” he says, and that’s all he can say. He’s always trusted Bucky; even when he wasn’t Bucky he trusted that he’d come back, and he’s thinking that maybe he should just trust him now too.

They don’t say anything more for a while. Bucky just sits there at his side and lets Steve contemplate everything they’ve said, shutting his eyes and breathing in the fresh air and letting the sun warm his skin. He wishes Tony were here, lying next to him, quiet for once. He wouldn’t be still though, that’s not Tony. He’d have his phone in his hand, sitting and working with Steve’s head in his lap, letting Steve enjoy the peace. Maybe he’d just be combing dexterous fingers through Steve’s hair, probably complaining about the fact Steve’s had it cut and isn’t rocking the forties look anymore, just like he’s done every time Steve’s had a haircut for the past three years-

He feels the ghost of a smile pull weakly at the corner of his mouth, and the feeling is enough to galvanise the rest of his body into action. He sits up, reaching over for his helmet and holding it in one hand.

“Ready?” Bucky says, standing up and stretching, reaching for his own helmet and tossing it from one hand to the other, swinging it around easily.

“Yeah,” Steve says, and pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time. He turns it on and almost immediately it pings with two missed calls and a voicemail.

“Tony tried to call,” he says, aiming for casual and missing by a mile.  “Left a voicemail.”

“Pick it up then,” Bucky says, like Steve’s an idiot. Steve responds with a middle finger and Bucky snorts with laughter.

Stomach clenching, Steve taps the button the pick up the voicemail. Stepping away from Bucky, he lifts the phone to his ear and his insides all flip as he hears Tony’s voice tumble into his ear in a wrecked, rambling rush.

“You know what, I fucking hate leaving you voicemails, because I ramble and you’re not actually there to tell me when to stop. But. Steve, I’m so sorry. I was convinced you were going to send him away, and I’m – I didn’t mean what I said, I swear. I just said it, and it was a shitty, shitty thing to say. I didn’t – I just couldn’t – Steve. I’m sorry I didn’t understand how you were feeling, I kinda don't think I still do but I'm sorry I didn't even try. I just – I’m always  - to me you’re an amazing person, I never doubt that you’re an amazing person and I never stopped to consider that you’d doubt yourself. Steve, I’m sorry. I’ll see you when you get back.”

More tears threaten and Steve screws his eyes shut, clenching his phone in his fist and pressing it hard to his forehead. God, to hear Tony saying those things, to know that he can go home, that it's not all wrecked beyond repair - the sheer relief he feels is nearly enough to knock him on his ass for a second time.

"Aw, don't cry again," Bucky's voice says, sounding plaintive. "Come on."

Steve sucks in a breath, lifts his chin and blinks hard. "Shut up, Bucky," he says and clears his throat, walking over to the bike. Bucky just grins like the complete shit he is, and follows him, banging Steve's hip with his helmet. 

“Can I drive?”

“No,” Steve says, and Bucky pouts at him. Steve ignores it, because that face has never worked on him and he’s not going to start falling for it now. He slings a leg over the bike, settling back and waiting as Bucky clambers on behind him.

“Reckon I can do it?” he asks casually, and listens to Bucky shift, the click of the helmet’s straps. He twists to look at him when he doesn’t get an answer. 

Bucky meets his eyes, says “yes,” and then slaps the visor down over his face. Steve nods and pulls his own helmet on, clipping it up and sliding the visor shut before turning the bikes ignition on. He takes a deep breath, thinks about what he has to do, and then guns the bike forwards, heading back home.

* * *

Tony is _so_ far out of his depth here that he doesn’t even have units to express it.

“I hate you! I fucking hate you!”

Tony cringes at the scream from inside Arto’s room, the dull crack of something else being broken. Probably one of the dresser drawers that were unceremoniously pulled out and thrown across the room around ten minutes ago. And things had been going so well. Arto had been – somewhat suspiciously – quiet and compliant since Steve’s departure, drawing on the tablet and watching Clint playing on the Xbox, albeit with a slightly suspicious expression on his face. He’d even drunk a full beaker of juice and a half a piece of toast that Tony had brought up for him, and had seemed pretty settled.

And then, without warning or explanation, everything had abruptly gone to hell.

“Hey, no,” Tony hears Clint say, voice calm but strained. “Stop, no. Don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

The response is a strangled scream and the thudding of feet and hands against the floor. He reaches up, presses the heels of his hands to his eyes and slumps back against the wall.

“Jarvis, any luck contacting Thor?”

“I’m afraid not,” Jarvis replies. “His communicator is inactive. I believe he is in another realm. I took the liberty of contacting Dr Foster and she has informed me that he is not with her, though he is scheduled to return this afternoon.”

“Fuck,” Tony mutters. “Note to self, work on multi-realm communicators.”

Soft footsteps right behind him tell him Natasha has arrived. “I can go in,” Natasha says quietly from next to him, gently touching his elbow in a way that’s oddly reassuring, considering how angry she’d been at him earlier.

Tony breathes out, drops his hands. “It’d take all three of us to pin him down and I don’t want him to feel like he’s being mobbed,” he says shortly. “That is if three of us can actually pin him down without hurting him.”

“What’s the lesser of the evils?” Natasha asks seriously. “We need a way to contain this.”

“I know,” Tony snaps, because they  _had_ ways of dealing with this, but both ways of dealing with it have fucked off and left, and Tony feels like the scummiest human being on the planet, because it’s pretty much his fault. He can’t shake the look on Steve’s face from his memory; it’s pretty much seared into his brain and he hates it,  _hates_ that he didn’t get it until that point. He’s been assuming Steve is just being stubborn and awkward and reacting like a giant jackass. God, Steve looked completely shattered and Tony hadn’t even noticed-

“Jarvis, call Bruce,” Natasha’s voice says calmly, and Tony is yanked back into the moment. “Tell him Arto needs sedating.”

“No,” Tony begins, but Natasha just looks him in the eye and he falters. She’s probably right; as much as he hates it, sedating Arto for a while might be their only option here.

“Yes, Agent Romanov,” Jarvis replies, just as Arto lets rip with another bout of swearing. Tony wants to look into the room but he’s pretty sure he won’t be able to cope; in the thirty minute duration of his tantrum, Arto has somehow managed to both give himself a nose-bleed and cut his fingers on something and Tony so very desperately wants to help. Knowing he can’t is making him feel awful on a thousand levels.

“What set this off?” Natasha asks, moving around so she can see into the room without Arto seeing her, carefully watching.

“Nothing, literally nothing,” Tony says. “He was sat quietly, and then out of nowhere he just throws the tablet across the room and starts swearing blue murder at Clint.”

“It is an impressive vocabulary,” Natasha says, and Tony snorts.

“The kid doesn’t know the word for  _green_ but he knows, at the last count, eight different swear words,” he says, and he hears the shake in his own voice. “His vocabulary is shot to hell-”

“Sir, Captain Rogers and Agent Barnes have returned,” Jarvis interrupts, and Tony’s stomach clenches. “Shall I inform Captain Rogers that we require his assistance?”

“He won’t come anyway,” he says bitterly, because he knows he’s probably pushed Steve past the point of return with this. “Tell the one-armed wonder instead.”

“Go away,” Arto howls, and there’s another dull thud, and Clint Barton is possibly the bravest person that Tony knows because he doesn’t back off at all. He’s already been nailed by a well thrown hardback copy of some book that was on the shelf in the guest room; Tony supposes he’s lucky that Arto hasn’t decided to actually use the shelf as a weapon.

“Not gonna happen,” Clint is replying, raising his voice over Arto’s screams. “Come on, calm down. Not worth it, this isn’t going to fix anything-”

At the other end of the corridor, Tony hears the faint sound of the elevator opening, and hurried footsteps moving quickly along the corridor.  _Two_ sets of footsteps.

_Bucky and Bruce,_ he thinks, but he looks up and the bottom drops out of his gut because it’s Bucky and _Steve_ walking towards him. 

Steve’s eyes are on him, and he’s got his jaw set in a very familiar and Captain America-esque fashion. He’s radiating determination, though his expression is still tempered with the fear that Tony saw earlier. Tony’s mouth goes dry; he knows that look of intent intimately.

Without pausing or hesitating, Steve walks straight up to Tony and reaches for him. Tony’s hands come up reflexively, but before he can even think about responding with anything more, Steve slides one hand onto the side of his neck before leaning in and kissing him. It’s a chaste kiss but it holds Tony captive, the firm press of Steve’s mouth against his for several long seconds. Tony’s breath catches in the back of his throat and his hands falter in mid air, brushing against Steve’s elbows, and then Steve pulls back with a heavy inhale, knocking his forehead against Tony’s, eyes screwed tightly shut.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmurs, and then he’s gone again, pulling away and leaving Tony feeling like all the air has been knocked out of his lungs. For one wild moment he expects Steve to turn on his heel and leave again, but he doesn’t. He steps past Natasha, gently touching her hand as he does, and then walks into Arto’s room without looking back.

Tony follows him without thinking, standing in the doorway so he can watch, eyes cataloging every movement. Clint is still sitting cross legged some way away from Arto, out of range of feet and fists. He looks around as Steve walks in, and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. He doesn’t make any smartass comments though, and Tony is glad. He rests one hand against the doorframe, holding his breath as Steve walks over to Arto, dropping down to his knees next to him. Arto is in an utter state and yep, Tony hates it with every fiber of his being. There’s blood from his nosebleed everywhere, smeared on his chin and over his top; there’s even some on his damn forehead and in his hair. He’s still screaming, every other breath a rush of curse words and insults, and as Tony watches he kicks out and throws himself backwards, heels banging against the floor.

“Up,” Steve says clearly, and he reaches over and grabs Arto under his arms as if to lift him up. Arto is quicker, he’s astoundingly quick, and he scrambles around and literally _lunges_ at him, all  pummeling fists and screaming curse words.

“Fucking shit,” Arto howls, face screwed up and red, streaked with tears. “You fucking _bitch._ ”

A small fist catches Steve in the underside of his jaw with an audible _crack_ and Tony takes an automatic and alarmed step forwards, but Steve simply leans back fractionally, face out of range. He’s completely zoning out the screaming and cursing, his face set with calm concentration.

“Up you get,” he repeats, voice steady. He stands up, lifting Arto with him and setting him on his hip, grabbing the flailing hands in one of his own. Arto obviously has other ideas; he flings himself sideways and nearly pitches himself out of Steve’s arms. Staggering slightly as he shifts to rebalance himself, Steve changes his plan and drops down to sit, pulling Arto backwards into his lap.

“Fucking _bitch_ ,” Arto bites out again, and slams his head back into Steve’s chest. Steve takes a deep breath and simply wraps an arm around Arto’s middle, corralling his hands into the grip of one of his own, and uses his other hand to hold Arto’s head to his chest, palm on his forehead. Arto continues to struggle, doing his best to kick Steve’s legs, slamming his heels down onto Steve’s knees and shins.

“That’s enough,” Steve says loudly and firmly, almost shouting, and Arto suddenly takes a shuddering breath in, his body going still in Steve’s grip. He twists his head around and Steve allows the movement; Arto looks up at him, recognition flashes over his face, and then he promptly stops screaming and starts to cry.

Tony watches panic flitter over Steve’s face for a moment, before its schooled back into calm. “I got you,” he says, and strokes his palm up over Arto’s head. Arto jerks away, still crying. 

“Bitch,” he sobs, and one small sweaty hand pulls free of Steve’s grip, and he tries to hit at Steve over his shoulder, leaving another grubby smear of blood on Steve’s white T-shirt. “You went, I don’t different, I don’t want again-”

He barely makes sense but Tony gets the gist of it. From the look on Steve’s face, he gets it too; he looks horrendously guilty and a small part of Tony is thinking _yeah, so you should_. He doesn’t say it though, he just watches as Steve takes a gamble and lets go of Arto’s hands, instead turning him around and holding him to his front. Arto complies, wrapping arms around Steve’s neck and sobbing into his shoulder.

“Not going anywhere,” Steve says, eyes turned down away from Clint and Tony, and Tony’s heart is doing some strange twisting thing in his chest and he feels like _he_ could cry _._ “I had to go out, I’m sorry,” Steve continues, voice low and quiet and broken. “I’m back now, and I’ve got you, and you’re not going anywhere.”

Arto doesn’t reply. He just clings onto Steve as if for dear life, and Steve awkwardly places a hand on the back of his head and one between his shoulder blades, holding him close. Despite the fact Tony knows he’s stronger than most grown men, Arto looks so small and fragile in Steve’s hands.

“Come on, up we get,” Steve says quietly, and Arto doesn’t resist as Steve slowly stands up, lifting Arto up with him. Arto wraps his legs around Steve’s waist, clinging to his front like a koala and with a grip so tight it would hurt anyone that wasn’t full of serum.

Steve hitches him up, one arm tucking underneath him to hold him up, other hand still on the back of his head. He still doesn’t look comfortable or happy, but Tony can see the effort in his countenance, and he could kiss that stupid face for the fact he’s actually here and he’s doing exactly what they need him to do. Tony’s anger at how long it’s taken is gone, already flushed out of existence; he’s just so fucking relieved that Steve’s here now, covered in blood and snot and tears but doing the right thing.

“Three cheers for Captain America,” Clint says with a wry grin, and pushes himself easily to his feet, shaking his head and walking out of the room, prodding the spot on his forehead where he’d been hit by the book. Tony doesn’t watch him go; his attention is all on Steve.

“I,” Steve says, and he stops and swallows thickly. He looks up and meets Tony’s eyes. “I’m gonna need a little help,” he says, and Tony hears his voice shaking even as he fights to stay steady. “With this whole thing.”

And Tony stares at him, feeling knocked for six in the very best way because there’s implication in those words, and it’s exactly what he’s been waiting for. He reaches up, rubs at his mouth and then he’s nodding. “Yeah,” he says easily, and fights down the surge of emotion in his chest because he loves this moron, and he’s pretty sure he always will. He smiles weakly, and Steve tries to return it but can’t quite get there. “You got it, Cap.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey.” 

Steve cranes his head around to look at Tony from where he’s sat at the kitchen counter with Arto curled up on his knee. He’s asleep, face mashed against Steve’s shirt and mouth open, breath a snuffling nasal whine. The only thing stopping him from sliding onto the floor is Steve’s arm, which is wrapped around his middle, hand resting on his belly.

He’d fallen asleep barely ten minutes after Steve had picked him up, crying himself into a doze with a frown on his still blood-covered face. Steve supposes he should clean him up, but he’s so out of sorts he can’t even find the wherewithal to form full sentences.

“Hey,” he replies quietly, and Tony steps forwards, eyes flicking between Steve and Arto. His expression softens slightly and he steps up behind Steve, resting his forearms on his shoulders and his chin atop Steve’s head.

“So, I think I need to apologize as well,” he says conversationally.

“Yep,” Steve sighs, closing his eyes and breathing in and out deeply. He feels Tony press a kiss to the top of his head and then push up away from him, moving away towards the kitchen. 

Steve looks down at the small figure in his arms, trying not to let the anxious feeling in his gut spread. _It’s okay,_ he tells himself, breathing out through his mouth and shutting his eyes. _Step at a time._ Bucky had said it was okay that he didn’t feel any connection with the kid straight away, that he’d have to actually spend time with him and get to know him.

Tony returns with a damp cloth in his hand and crouches down next to Arto. He carefully lifts one of his hands from his lap and gently cleans the blood away, inspecting Arto’s fingers where Steve can see the remnants of a cut on the back of his knuckles. The skin is pink and shiny, obviously healing quickly.

“So. I take it that it was you not thinking enough of yourself rather than thinking badly of me,” Tony says as lets go of Arto’s fingers and then carefully wipes under Arto’s nose. There’s hesitance in his voice, a vulnerability he doesn’t usually let anyone hear. He lowers his hand, presses the fingers of his other to his mouth. “God, Steve. I’m so sorry. I just thought you were – that you were being stubborn, and you didn’t say anything and I was terrified you’d send him away-”

Steve shushes him with a shake of his head, not wanting to hear any more. It’s too raw, too open and he doesn’t trust himself to keep it together. Tony seems to get it; he stops talking, heaves out a sigh. His eyes flicker over Arto again, and Steve can sense the relief in that piercing gaze, even if he doesn’t quite understand it.

“Why are you so attached?” he asks softly.

“Because he’s _yours_ , you moron,” Tony whispers, and his eyes meet Steve’s. “How could you not know – he’s part of you and I will love every part of you until I clock out for good-”

Steve feels a lump in his throat again, has to swallow hard.  “I didn’t,” Steve begins, has to stop. He shifts Arto so he can reach out and cup Tony’s jaw with his hand. “You never said, you only said because of him-”

“Tactical error on my part,” Tony admits. “I didn’t anticipate your ego being so fragile in this department. I thought you knew.”

Steve opens his mouth, tries to find the words. Goddamn it, he never thought it would be this hard to get the words out. “People only ever say things to me because of something else, because I’m Captain America, because of circumstance,” he says, tone full of self-depreciation. 

“And you want to hear things as just Steve Rogers,” Tony says, and his smile is crooked. “Well, as if you could ever be just Steve Rogers.”

Steve nods wordlessly. Tony turns his face and presses a kiss to Steve’s palm, rubbing his nose gently against the pad of his thumb. “So, can we have that conversation now?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, because he knows from the experience of the past few days that saying no to difficult conversations is not an option right now. “Go for it.”

“Sticking together?” Tony asks simply.

Steve’s stomach flips at the simple question, knowing the weight behind what Tony is asking. “Yes.”

Tony’s eyes drop to Arto. He studies him for a moment then lifts the cloth again, gently wiping it over Arto’s brow. “With this one, too?”

“Yes,” Steve says, even though the prospect still scares the absolute life out of him.

“Feeling okay about it?”

“Not at all,” Steve admits. “But I’ve gotta try.”

“I think it’ll be pretty awesome,” Tony says casually, shrugging one shoulder. “You get away with murder when you’ve got small kids. Don’t want to go somewhere? Boom - excuse. Having an excuse for acting crazy, you just say the kid is driving you up the wall and everyone is all over it. Tax breaks. Better parking spaces. Having an endless supply of candy in the house. Having someone you can train to go and torment Barton. Actually, nix that, Barton is already teaching him bad habits, you need to hear about the counter-diving. I know, you should totally let him _and_ Barton lose in SHIELD headquarters the next time Fury gives you a shitty assignment-”

Despite himself, Steve starts to smile. “Tony,” he says gently, and Tony stops talking. “You’re babbling.”

“Yeah,” Tony admits. “I just want this to be okay.”

Steve doesn’t reply to that; he’s not sure he can. It’s not going to be okay straight away and he knows it, not with Arto, not between him and Tony. Saying that out loud doesn’t seem like the most tactful idea though, so he keeps it to himself.

“You need to stop trying to manipulate me,” he finally says. “I know that you push me and some days I need that, but this was too far.”

Tony grimaces. “Would you believe I wasn’t actually trying to manipulate you this time?” he says. “I was angry and being a hot-head. Being a bit of a Steve Rogers, actually.”

“You were trying to push me into doing what you wanted,” Steve says. “That’s manipulating.”

Tony rubs at his beard with his hand. “Suppose it was,” he says finally, and only sounding a tiny bit contrite. “I’ll probably do it again.”

For a fleeting moment, Steve is caught off guard by the honesty, but then quickly realizes he wouldn’t expect anything else from Tony. He studies him for a few seconds, taking in his serious expression and the way Tony doesn’t look away from his gaze.

Maybe it _will_ be okay between him and Tony.

“Well,” he says slowly, “then maybe you’ll have to put up with me occasionally being pissed off with you for trying it.”

Tony nods absently, his eyes dropping and fixing on Arto. “He needs a bath,” he says vaguely, almost to himself more than Steve, and then he looks up at Steve again, eyes bright and focused.

“Decided what you’re going to tell Fury? What’s the backstory?”

Steve feels his shoulders stiffen, an instinctive desire to pull away. “Jesus, Tony,” he says, and he wants to get up but he can’t because Arto is on his knee and Tony is knelt down right in front of him. “What else do you want from me today?”

Tony’s jaw clenches, just enough for Steve to notice. “Yeah, well if this is what you’re doing then you need to have all your bases covered,” he says shortly. “There’s going to be legalities, paperwork, lawyers to get involved. You can’t drag your heels-”

“I am not stupid,” Steve interrupts. “Just because I cannot – and will not – process things as quickly as you can and make snap decisions, does _not_ mean I am dragging my heels. Back off.”

Tony’s brows go up in something that could be surprise or affront and he leans back. Steve braces himself for another argument, because at the end of the day they’re always going to argue, but Tony breathes out, the tension easing from his frame. “Okay,” he finally says. “Okay, you got it.”

Relief washes through him, and Steve holds out a hand for Tony to take. Tony does, allowing Steve to pull him up to his feet. Steve lets go of his hand and slips his palm onto Tony’s waist, pulling him in. Smiling faintly, Tony catches his hand on Steve’s shoulder and leans over to brush his mouth against Steve’s.

“Did we just compromise? Is that what happened?”

“Can you ever just let the moment speak for itself?” Steve grumbles, and then looks down as Arto snuffles and shifts in his sleep, face turning into Steve’s chest.  “Can we-” he begins, and feels his neck going hot, stomach twisting uncomfortably with unease and something close to embarrassment. “I have no idea how to look after him.”

“Can’t be that hard,” Tony shrugs. “Feed him, wash him, keep him entertained.”

“I think you’re over-simplifying,” Steve says, and purposefully doesn’t get annoyed at how easy Tony seems to be finding it. If they’re sticking together with this he might as well take advantage of Tony’s willingness rather than getting riled up by it.

“I think you’re – I know,” Tony says, snapping his fingers. “We’ll call Sue. Sue has small children, she’ll know what to do.”

Steve nods, relieved. “Good call,” he says, and then looks up as he hears the elevator. To his surprise it’s Thor who steps out, in full armor and with Mjolnir at his hip. His expression is serious, a calm resoluteness that Steve actually welcomes. After all, it’s not just Tony who has to deal with Steve suddenly becoming a – a father, it’s the entire team.

“Steve, Tony,” he says, striding over. “I came as soon as Jane told me you had tried to contact me. How is the boy?”

“He’s…” Tony begins, and then waves his hand in front of his face in a see-sawing motion. “He’s…had a bit of a moment. Like a mini-Hulk actually. A bit of a temper.”

Thor nods, and looks Steve and Arto over, gaze calm. “Is he injured?”

“Nosebleed,” Steve says. “He…uh, I went out earlier and he…”

“Demolished the guest-room,” Tony fills in. “Lots of screaming and shouting and throwing things.”

Thor nods slowly, contemplative, and then he smiles. “It is strange to see you with a child,” he says to Steve. “Though not completely unnatural. He is truly your likeness.”

Steve’s throat goes tight. “Feels pretty strange too,” he says, as if it’s sufficient enough to describe even a fraction of what’s going on inside him. Now he’s accepted the fact that he’s in this for the long haul, more anxieties are stirring restlessly in the back of his mind, mostly started by Tony’s questions earlier. What is he going to tell everyone? Should he be open about where Arto has come from? Or is that inviting trouble? But to tell everyone Arto is actually his – there will be a thousand more questions that come from that, about where his mother is, why Steve hasn’t said anything until now?

He looks down as Arto shifts again. A small hand comes up to rub at one of his eyes, and he whines sleepily, eyes blinking open. He looks up at Steve and his fingers fist in the material of Steve’s shirt.

“Okay?” Steve asks, and Arto doesn’t move or give any indication he’s heard. He just blinks up at Steve for a moment, and then looks down and around the room. Steve feels the exact moment he spots Thor in the way he shrinks back, whole body going tense.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Steve says in alarm as Arto squirms around and tries to scramble up into his arms, knees pressing painfully into Steve’s thighs and arms locking around his neck. “It’s okay, that’s Thor. He’s a friend." 

Tony is there in an instant. “He’s cool,” Tony says, and Arto lifts his face from Steve’s shoulder and turns to look at Thor mistrustfully. “He’s from somewhere else, just like you.”

Steve doesn’t know if they should be reminding Arto that he’s not actually from Earth – well, not this earth anyway –  but it seems to be a good move for now. Arto blinks and then seems to settle a little, letting go of Steve with one arm and turning around to look at Thor properly. Steve keeps him steady with his arm wrapped around Arto’s middle, and he jolts slightly as he feels small fingers touch his neck, sifting through the short hair at the base of his skull.

Thor just meets Arto’s suspicious gaze evenly, and then Arto seems to get over his reservations, turning to Steve and pressing his free hand to Steve’s cheek. “Charms,” he says, and Steve frowns, doesn’t get it. “Charms,” Arto repeats, and his fingers pull at Steve’s lip with no small amount of force. Steve reaches up to grab his hand, wincing.

“Lucky Charms,” Tony fills in, and Arto points towards the cupboards, swinging his whole bodyweight over. Steve has to hastily grab hold of him so he doesn’t tumble from his grip, and Arto seems to like the swinging motion, letting his arm flop from around Steve’s neck and tilting back dangerously far.

“Jesus, child, stop trying to land on your head,” Tony says, leaning forwards and snagging the front of Arto’s shirt, hauling him back into Steve’s lap. Steve just sits there, more than a little blindsided and feeling like he’s being used as a damn jungle-gym. “You are not eating Lucky Charms for dinner.”

The word startles Steve but he looks up at the clock on the wall and it’s already nearly ten to seven and when did that happen? How long as he been sat at this counter for?

“Kid’s got a point though, we need food,” Tony says vaguely, tapping on his phone. “Steve, you eaten today?”

“No,” Steve admits, and Tony gives him a _look_.

“What do you want?”

“Anything,” Steve says wearily. “Pizza.”

“Chinese it is,” Tony says, and Steve’s too tired to find him funny or be annoyed. “Art, you ever eaten Chinese?”

Arto shakes his head, looking wary.

“Cantonese? Indian? Italian? Greek? No? How about Mexican? Indonesian?”

Arto makes a high-pitched noise in the back of his throat and shakes his head harder, twisting around and burying his face in Steve’s neck.

“Tony, stop,” Steve says reproachfully, grimacing as Arto snuffles wetly against his neck, still making the distressed whining noise.

“He’s alright, just being a drama queen,” Tony says, and Steve is about to object but Arto turns his head and Steve catches sight of bright eyes darting around before he hides his face again.

“Charms,” Arto says in a pitiful voice, and Tony barks out a laugh.

“ _Now_ you’re being manipulated,” he says with a raised eyebrow, and then folds his arms over his chest and looks at Arto. “No dice. Lucky Charms are off the menu, kid.”

Arto twists around and pins Steve with a hurt look, like he expects Steve to back him up. “Tony said no,” he says to Arto, and Arto’s face turns affronted.

“You’re in charge,” he says to Steve, and he sounds so certain that it makes Steve want to bury his face in his hands.

“Not right now he’s not,” Tony says easily. “Hey, did you know that Thor’s as strong as Steve is?”

Arto looks up, startled, eyes raking over Thor. “No he’s not,” he says easily, and pats Steve’s cheek like he’s reassuring him. Tony bites back a laugh and Thor chuckles quietly. Steve is saved from replying by the elevator doors opening and Bruce and Natasha stepping out, Natasha with her arm linked through Bruce’s.

“Hey,” she says easily. “Did I hear someone say they were ordering Chinese?”

“Vultures, the lot of you,” Tony grumbles. Next to him, Thor is putting Mjolnir down on the table and unclipping his cloak, draping it over the back of one of the chairs.  “Bruce, you want in?”

“Please,” Bruce says gratefully, and then looks at Steve. “You trust me to be here?

“Yes,” Steve says without a pause, and Bruce smiles and walks over, heading to the fridge. Natasha doesn’t hesitate at all, just walks over to kiss Thor on the cheek, dropping gracefully into the chair next to him. He smiles, turning his attention to her as she speaks to him, voice soft and quiet.

“Suppose we should order for Barton and Barnes,” Tony says. “Where are they? I know they still get Jarvis to alert them whenever someone mentions takeout-”

“Present and accounted for,” a loud voice calls from the stairwell, and the pair slouch in. Bucky’s swearing sweats and no shirt, metal arm gleaming in the light, and Clint is barefoot though has deigned to wear jeans and a T-shirt. Arto spots him instantly and makes a loud noise that’s somewhere between a squeak and a chirp, arms reaching out.

“Hey, Short Round,” Clint grins, and walks over, apparently having forgiven Arto for throwing the book at him. “You’re looking less dangerous than you did earlier.”

Arto grins at him, all teeth. “Clint.”

“Where?” Clint says, looking over his shoulder, and Arto makes another inarticulate sound, bouncing on Steve’s knee.

“Clint!”

“No, that’s Bucky,” Clint says seriously. “No Clint here.”

“You!” Arto says loudly, and smacks a palm to Steve’s shoulder.

“Hey, no beating up Steve,” Tony says distractedly, phone held to one ear. “Barton, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you are actually Clint. Arto’s figured you out, give it up. Yeah, hi,” he turns his attention to the phone, walking away. “Avengers Tower, the usual order please-”

“You’re such a moron,” Bucky snorts, and heads to the fridge. Clint just sticks his tongue out at him and leans over the back of the chair next to Steve. Steve half hopes Arto will want to go to Clint but he doesn’t; he just slithers down Steve’s side so he’s sitting on his knee again, head tipped sideways and resting against Steve’s chest. He heaves out a sigh, swinging his feet so his heels bang against Steve’s legs. He watches the others around the table with careful eyes, slipping his fingers into his mouth.

“Right, food will be here in thirty minutes tops,” Tony says, and slides into the seat on the other side of Steve. Steve doesn’t turn to look at him, but he feels Tony’s knee nudge his thigh, and then fingers slowly trace up the back of his arm. He expects Tony to pull away after the discreet touch but he doesn’t; he leans in closer and strokes his fingers up and down Steve’s arm, tapping away on his phone with his other hand.

Breathing out heavily through his nose, Steve relaxes slightly, leaning into the touch. Only a week ago they wouldn’t even be sitting this close around the others, but no-one seems remotely bothered that they’re being open about their relationship. Steve’s glad; now they’re sort of on the same page, Tony’s presence is both comforting and appreciated.

He lets the conversation of the others wash over him, not focusing on any of the words. Even with Arto on his knee and Tony at his side, he feels separate and distant, like this is happening to someone else. The thought has his mind turning to the other Steve Rogers, the one from Arto’s dimension who had died trying to get to him. Would he have taken Arto in if he’d survived? Would he have been as apprehensive as Steve?

“Still with me?” Tony murmurs, voice quiet enough so only Steve can hear it.

“Yeah,” Steve replies quietly, turning his face towards Tony. Tony meets his eyes, his mouth hitching in a small, grateful smile. Steve returns it weakly, and Tony reaches out on impulse, touching Steve’s mouth briefly. Steve kisses the tips of Tony’s fingers, and then they both draw back as Arto shifts again, reaching up to tap Tony’s chin.

“What’s up, Smart Art?”

Arto looks around again, opens his mouth and then closes it. He reaches out for Tony and Tony takes him without a second’s hesitation, sliding him from Steve’s knee and onto his own. Arto wraps an arm around his neck, balancing on his knees and still gripping hold of Steve’s shirt.

“Lots of people, huh?” Tony says, winding an arm around Arto’s middle and resting his palm on his belly. Arto nods, looking unsure.

“Get used to it,” Tony says easily. “See, we all live here.”

Arto’s expression turns startled, and his fingers pull at Steve’s shirt. Steve reaches up and grabs his wrist before his shirt gets ripped, holding on carefully so Arto can’t tug too much.

“Yeah, there’s me and Steve live at the top of the building,” Tony says, and Steve interprets that as Tony saying he’s not going to get away with sleeping in his old quarters anymore. “Then Bruce and Natasha live under the medbay, then Clint on the same floor as you. Then Bucky is where Steve used to live, and Thor below him.”

Arto seems to be listening, though his eyes have fixed on Natasha, where she sits chatting softly with Thor. Arto lets go of Steve’s shirt and reaches up to touch his hair. “Red,” he says.

“Yeah, it’s gorgeous, right?” Tony says. “Wait until you see her out in the sunshine.”

“Outside?” Arto asks, and looks from Tony to Steve and back again before looking back to Natasha. He seems to be trying to find a word, opening his mouth and frowning before opting for, “Gorgeous?”

Steve can tell Natasha is listening because her mouth curves in the tiniest of smiles, though she doesn’t look away from her conversation with Bruce and Thor.

“Gorgeous,” Tony affirms. “Means beautiful. Something lovely to look at.”

Arto cocks his head at that, looking at Natasha contemplatively. “Gorgeous,” he says again, sounding more certain. He lets go of Steve’s shirt, sitting back on his heels on Tony’s knee. A small hand slides over Tony’s shirt and then he gently touches Tony’s jaw, brushing his beard. He’s turning out to be a very tactile being, Steve notices, and tiredly wonders if it’s to do with how he’s been brought up. Maybe he’s just been deprived of sensory experience or something, Steve doesn’t know.

He leans forwards with an elbow on the counter, chin cupped in his palm. As he lets the conversation around him wash over him, he feels a hand slide up his spine and exhales heavily at the touch. He wants to go up to bed, with Tony, and bury his face in the crook of Tony’s neck and sleep. He wants Tony to grumble at him for hogging the space whilst pulling him close with strong arms, complaining as Steve kisses up his neck and nuzzles into sleep-warm skin. He’d roll them over and Tony would be laughing and trying to push his face away, and Steve would fake a sigh and let him go, only to be grabbed by greedy hands-

Steve blinks, turns his head to look at Tony. Arto is brushing both of his palms over Tony’s beard and Tony is just sitting there and letting him, hand resting on Arto’s side to keep him steady. His mouth is quirked in an amused smile and there’s no missing the affection in his eyes.

Steve lets go of the half-formed daydream. His life is no longer centered around him and Tony. It’s now him and Tony and Arto, and he’s going to have to get used to it.

“ _You_ were supposed to hand it in,” Bucky’s exasperated voice catches Steve’s attention, and he lifts his eyes to where Bucky and Clint are now both leaning by the counter shoulder to shoulder, Bucky with a beer in hand. 

Clint is shaking his head, adamant. “You said you would!”

“Coulson’s going to string you two up,” Natasha says far too happily, and Bucky and Clint both glare at her.  Steve snorts with laughter, and Bucky hears and turns his glare on Steve.

“Should have handed it in,” Steve says with a raised eyebrow.

“Shut up Rogers, just because Coulson never bitches at you for not handing paperwork in-”

“That’s probably because he always hands his paperwork in,” Bruce chips in, amused.

“Are you kidding me,” Tony snorts. “He never hands paperwork in.”

Steve sits up, mouth open in affront. “That’s a lie.”

“I once saw you jump from a helicopter to avoid being asked about paperwork,” Tony says matter-of-factly.

Clint cackles with laughter, but Bucky just turns his unimpressed glare back on Steve, the same look he usually wears whenever he hears about Steve doing something dangerous like jumping from aircraft or out of windows.

“I had a parachute,” Steve quickly adds, but Bucky’s narrow-eyed look doesn’t abate. Steve turns to look at Tony for backup, but his attention has gone back to Arto, who looks like he’s trying to escape by climbing up over Tony’s shoulder.

“Where are you going, I hope you have a plan because I honestly don’t know what it is you’re trying to achieve here-”

With a small amount of undignified flailing, Arto manages to get from Tony’s lap and onto the counter. Tony goes to grab his ankle but Arto simply yanks free and quickly scampers along the counter towards the cupboard.

“Hey,” Tony calls as he stands up, and he looks like he’s trying not to laugh. “You are not having Lucky Charms, food will be here in like fifteen minutes.”

Arto ignores him and stands up on the counter, reaching for the cupboard. Tony goes to stand up, looks at Clint who is standing nearest the cupboard, and then seems to reconsider, looking at Steve.

“Could you back up the no?” he asks evenly, though there’s hesitation in his gaze. “I don’t know if I’ve got enough muscle to enforce it.”

Understanding Tony’s hesitation but glad that he’s asked instead of just expecting Steve to step in automatically, Steve nods and pushes himself out of his chair, quickly walking over and snagging Arto around the middle, lifting him off the counter. “Tony said no,” he says as Arto makes a noise of protest, reaching out towards the cupboard. Clint shrugs and reaches up to shut the cupboard door and Arto seems to deflate, going limp in Steve’s grip.

“Charms,” he says pitifully, arms and legs dangling down in space. Steve ignores it and hefts him up, setting him on his hip again. “Charms,” Arto whines again, rubbing his cheek against Steve’s shoulder.

“Food will be here soon,” Steve says evenly. “Just wait.”

Arto shakes his head but doesn’t offer any more resistance. His mouth is turned down unhappily and he’s blinking a lot, and maybe he’s tired? The uncertainty and worry still lurks on Steve’s periphery, and how is Tony finding this so easy, so natural?

“Here,” Tony says right on cue, and passes over a tablet. “Go nuts.”

Arto immediately grabs for it and Steve takes the opportunity to sit down again, swinging Arto onto the empty seat next to him. Showing a surprising amount of deftness, Arto turns the tablet on quickly and soon has a drawing app open, black lines and swirls appearing under his fingers. He’s got a look of abject concentration on his face, a small frown between his eyebrows as he sets the tablet on the edge of the table and leans forwards, continuing to draw.

Reaching out with one hand to grab the chair by one of its legs and tug it closer to the table, Steve watches Arto absently, still feeling oddly detached from the whole situation. He knows the others are probably all watching every move he makes to see what he’s going to do, but he’s quickly going from embarrassed at the scrutiny into too tired to care territory. _One day at a time,_ he tries to tell himself again. _Get through tonight, and then work out what to do next._

Arto’s fingers quickly move, selecting different colors as he fills in more of his picture. Steve has no idea what it is; it appears just to be a pattern of different swirls and colors, most of them in different shades of red. He watches unblinkingly for so long the image starts to blur in front of him, a red haze under Arto’s quickly moving fingers.

“Steve?”

Steve jerks back to the moment, looking up as Tony calls his name. “Food is here,” he says evenly, and Steve looks up to see Clint and Bucky walking in with a massive cardboard box each. Steve hadn’t even seen them leave the room. The boxes are deposited on the counter and wrenched open and Steve’s stomach rumbles as the smell hits him.

“Not hungry,” Arto says suddenly, looking at the box with some apprehension. “Don’t want any food.”

He’s given away by the growl his stomach makes, and Tony sends him a pointed look. “Yeah, nice try,” he says, and reaches over to take the tablet from Arto. “What do you want to drink?”

“Nothing.”

“Juice it is,” Tony says cheerfully, and Arto scowls at him. Natasha and Thor are already handing plates out, Clint is spreading out a seemingly endless array of cartons over the table and Bucky is pulling beers out of the fridge. The chatter between them is perfectly normal, a comforting wash of noise that Steve is infinitely grateful for.

“Right,” Tony says as he puts down a beaker of juice and a small plate in front of Arto. “What’re you having?”

“Not hungry,” Arto says stubbornly. Across the table, Bruce glances at him and then away and Steve feels a horrid sensation of being judged. Rationally, he knows that Bruce wouldn’t and that he didn’t mean anything by the look, but other people might, and for the rest of his life he’s going to be judged on everything this child says and does-

“Okay, chow mein sounds good,” Tony says and grabs a carton. He deftly spoons out a small portion onto Arto’s plate and then slides a fork over. Arto pushes it away and Tony moves as if to push it back again, but thinks better of it.

“No,” Arto says, louder, and shoves the plate away as well.

Steve feels his whole body going tense, stress tightening in his stomach. He meant what he said to Tony earlier, about not knowing what to do, not knowing how to care for Arto. Jesus, the kid is still absolutely filthy and he’s not even washed his hands before eating, not that it matters because he isn’t going to eat anything anyway-

“Bathroom,” Steve mutters to Tony, and before Tony can reply Steve gets up and walks out of the room, heading out into the corridor that leads to the bathroom and stairwell. He gets almost to the bathroom door before he hears footsteps behind him, and stops as Tony jogs up behind him.

“Hey, hey,” Tony says evenly, catching Steve’s elbow and pulling him round.

“Just going to the bathroom,” Steve starts to say, trying to sound relaxed and at ease.

“Steve,” Tony interjects, obviously not having it. “Breathe.”

Steve reaches up, pushes a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” he says, giving up on the pretense. “Tony, this is such a bad idea-”

“The best things always are,” Tony says, and reaches up, places his hands on Steve’s neck, meets his eyes seriously. “You’re doing great, you’re doing everything he needs right now-”

“I wasn’t going to leave,” Steve says suddenly, a little helplessly. He feels like it’s important for Tony to know that. “I just-”

“You were stressed, I know,” Tony says, dropping his hands and dragging his palms along Steve’s chest, the touch familiar and grounding. “It’s okay. You’re allowed to be stressed. I’m giving you permission to be stressed.”

Despite himself, Steve smiles. Here with just the two of them, it all feels so much easier. Safer, in a way. He reaches out and slips his hands onto Tony’s hips. “You’re giving me permission to be stressed?”

Tony nods, completely serious, shifting closer to Steve. His fingers press firmly into the muscle of Steve’s chest, his eyes flickering over him in a way that’s oh-so-telling before returning to his face. It’s easy and playful and how it’s always been, and Steve gratefully finds himself slipping back into it without difficulty. “I am giving you permission to be mildly stressed.”

Steve huffs out a soft laugh. “Mildly?”

Tony nods, eyes still on Steve’s and he’s leaning closer and closer, voice a low murmur. “Yes. Occasions of major stress require twenty-four hour notice and forms to be filled in.”

“Forms,” Steve replies with an arched brow, voice low and quiet and he can feel Tony’s breath on his lips, warm and familiar.

“Yes, long and tedious forms,” Tony murmurs, and their mouths meet in a long, slow kiss. Steve’s breath hitches in his chest and Tony melts against him, opening his mouth under Steve’s and reaching up to cup his jaw. His tongue dips lazily into Steve’s mouth and Steve shudders; he’s missed this more than he’s realised.

Tony makes a pleased noise in the back of his throat, and his thumb strokes against Steve’s jaw. Steve kisses him slowly, thoroughly, arms wrapping around Tony’s shoulders and pulling him tight against him. Tony seems to approve, moving one of his legs forwards to push between Steve’s-

“Aw, really?”

They break apart quickly at the sound of Bucky’s voice, almost a reflex in how they move apart just enough. Steve turns to see him standing at the end of the corridor, pulling a face at them.

“What?” Tony asks flatly, clearly not happy with being interrupted, though he does step back towards Steve, an eyebrow lifting almost in challenge. Steve rolls his eyes; seems Tony is still not quite out of the habit of taking opportunities to get one up on Bucky where he’s concerned. He’s got absolutely no reason to, considering that Bucky spent half the day talking Steve into going back to Tony.

“Small-Steve wants Big-Steve,” Bucky says, not sounding at all apologetic.

Steve sighs, rubbing at his brow. Right. Small child he’s supposed to be responsible for. “Coming,” Steve says, and Bucky salutes and walks away.

Tony leans up and kisses him again. “You’re doing great,” he says, and Steve nods and tries to believe him. “Just – just stick it out. We’ll call Sue in the morning, get some advice on how to do life with small children.”

Steve nods, feeling exhausted. “Okay,” he says, hesitates. “He won’t eat.”

“He’ll eat, he’s hungry,” Tony says, and then shrugs. “If he won’t try the take-out, he can have his damn Lucky Charms.”

Steve just nods, and he lets Tony tug him back towards the others. He slips back into his seat and picks up his own carton of take out, digging in. Across the table, Bruce and Thor are discussion energy yields that are involved with the bifrost, Natasha is listening quietly and Bucky and Clint are still bickering about the report.

Steve looks sideways and notices Arto watching him avidly. He swallows his mouthful and then on a whim holds out his fork. “Want to try mine?”

“No,” Arto says, but then shifts. “What is it?”

“Noodles,” Steve says, and he plucks a stand from his carton and drops it onto the edge of Arto’s plate. Arto looks at it suspiciously and then picks it up with his fingers, poking his tongue out and licking at it. Expression turning startled, he looks at Steve who simply carries on eating. Arto looks to him, then back at the noodle, and then stuffs it into his mouth, leaving a brown smudge of sauce on his chin.

“Good?” Steve says, and holds out both the carton and his fork. Arto hesitates for a moment and then sticks his fingers straight into the carton and pulls out another noodle. Grimacing, Steve belatedly thinks that he really should have got Arto to wash up before eating, but he's not convinced he's got enough energy to care tonight.

This time, Arto shoves the noodle into his mouth without hesitation.  “Good,” Arto says, and grabs for Steve’s carton. Steve is just about quick enough to keep it out of reach, and when Arto makes a hurt noise, he reaches forwards and doles out a portion onto Arto’s plate. Arto looks around at the others and then seems to give up his reservations and dives in.

“Feral creature,” Tony says, but he sounds more amused than anything. Steve looks up at him and Tony quirks an eyebrow, his expression somewhere between _‘see?’_ and ‘ _I told you so.’_

A strange sort of unwilling pride flickers in Steve’s chest, the knot of worry in his chest abating slightly.  It doesn’t last long because at the end of the day all he’s achieved is getting a six year old to eat some damn noodles. Still, it’s one battle won, though it doesn’t comfort him too much because there’s still so much to do, to get right.

Arto polishes off the noodles in record time, and then starts looking around the table, eyes narrowed. He doesn’t make a move, so Steve picks up the carton of chow mein and hands it to him. With Steve’s go-ahead, Arto sees happy to dig in, though forgoes cutlery once again in favor of using his fingers. 

Steve can feel Tony’s eyes on him again, but doesn’t look up. He doesn’t want any more congratulations or ‘ _told you so’_ looks, and can feel defensiveness materializing in his chest, jarring with the small sense of relief.

“That one?” Arto says, and points towards another box. Steve has a mouthful of food but before he can even swallow Tony is there, grabbing it and dropping it in front of Arto.

“It’s just rice, pretty boring,” Tony says, and hands Arto a fork. “No fingers in that one.”

This time Arto takes the fork, and he stabs at the rice, pretty quickly working out how to efficiently get as much of it in his mouth in as short a time as possible.

“Hey, Arto,” Clint says, and hands over a small pot of what Steve assumes is sweet and sour sauce. “Try that.”

Arto peers dubiously into the pot, and then promptly sticks his fingers in it. Clint bursts into laughter as Steve grabs for his wrist. He’s far too late; there’s sticky red sauce all over his damn fingers, dripping down his hand. Arto tugs against Steve’s grip and Steve lets him go, watching resignedly as Arto stuffs his fingers into his mouth.

“You’re six, you know that?” Tony says through his own laughter as he whips the pot out of reach. “You’re not a baby, seriously, kid.”

Arto just grins at him around his fingers. He sees to like the sauce well enough though, and is already looking around to see where it went. There’s now tacky sauce all over his face and hands, and he’s really starting to look like he’s been living in a dumpster. 

“Yeah, you are so going in the bath,” Tony says, but Arto doesn’t react, too busy licking his fingers to pay Tony any attention.

“Bath-time with a small Rogers. Rather you than me,” Bucky snorts, saluting Steve with his beer, and if Steve wasn’t now being a role-model he’d throw a spring roll at Bucky’s damn head.

“I’ll take him,” Tony says easily, and Steve looks at him, not wanting to sound like a complete cop-out by saying yes and begging off straight away. “Hey, you won at food, tag me in for bath-time.”

“Okay,” Steve says, ridiculously grateful. A whine at his elbow makes him look down; Arto is looking at him like he’s about to cry all of a sudden, eyes hot and bright.

“Yeah, you’re tired,” Tony says, and Arto reaches out towards Steve with both sticky hands. Steve’s now approaching flat-out-exhausted so quickly that he doesn’t bother to worry or even think about it; he just picks Arto up and lifts him back onto his knee, sticky hands clutching at his shirt.

“Right, you done eating, Smart Art?” Tony says, and Arto nods. “Okay, Steve isn’t because he’s a super-soldier and has to eat frankly ridiculous amounts of food, so me and you are going to go put you in the bath and then he’ll come find us when he’s done eating. Deal?”

Arto looks at Tony, looks at Steve, looks at Tony again. “A bath?” he says, sounding uncertain.

“Yes. Big tub. Full of water and bubbles. Makes you clean,” Tony says.

“Okay,” Arto immediately replies, and slides off of Steve’s knee. “Now?”

Completely nonplussed, Steve raises a questioning eyebrow at Tony, who just shrugs back.

“Hey, I’m not going to complain,” he says, pushing his chair away from the table. “Come along, strangely compliant small one. Hey Steve, when you’re done could you try and find him something to sleep in?”

Steve nods, though he’s pretty sure there isn’t going to be anything in the tower to fit a six-year old. “Sure.”

Tony walks away towards the stairwell and Arto darts after him. Underneath the slight suspicion at how biddable Arto is suddenly being, he’s also relieved that Tony is taking over for a while, and then guilty that he feels relieved.

“Hey, grumpy,” Bucky’s voice says, and Steve looks up as he slides into Tony’s vacated chair. Steve rests his elbow on the table and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Shut up, Bucky,” he says half-heartedly.

“Leave the man alone,” he hears Bruce say mildly, and he looks up in gratitude. “He’s had a long day.”

“One of many long days to come,” Natasha says with a tilt of her head. Her gaze is knowing and serious, though there’s a faint smile curling her lips.

“One day at a time,” Bucky calls out at her, folding his arms across his chest and sitting shoulder to shoulder with Steve in an obvious show of solidarity.

She just looks at him for a beat and then slides her eyes back to Steve, tilting a beer bottle between her fingers. “Very uplifting and all, but you are going to have to think long-term at some point.”

Steve sighs, pokes morosely at his food. “You sound like Tony.”

“So, the child is to stay?” Thor asks.

“Yeah,” Steve says heavily, and gives up on the carton of noodles, dropping it to the table. He reaches up, rubs his face hard. “Yeah, he’s staying.”

There’s a moment of silence, the weight of Steve’s decision impossible to ignore. It’s like now he’s said it and it’s out there, there’s no going back. Steve supposes there isn’t, not really.

“So,” Clint says, breaking the silence a beat later. “Are we going for an alien clone rescued from an alternate dimension, or are we going for bastard child that Steve didn’t know about?”

Bucky chokes on a laugh, Natasha bites her lip and even Thor chuckles. Bruce sends Steve a sympathetic look, and Steve is going to go and sit with Bruce in a moment because he’s the only one not being an utter jerk.

Clint doesn’t even flinch in the face of Steve’s half-hearted glare; he just shrugs. “It’s an important question.”

“That I’m not answering yet,” Steve says mildly. “We’ve not worked out-”

“I vote bastard child,” Bucky interrupts, as usual utterly ignoring Steve.

“Bucky,” Steve tries, but he might as well be talking to himself.

“That’s full of serum?” Bruce asks pointedly.

Steve shakes his head. “Guys-”

Bucky shrugs, spreads his hands wide. “Maybe Steve handed it down.”

Thor is frowning. “I would not suggest denying the child his true heritage,” he offers.

“Yes, but it’s about keeping him safe,” Natasha reminds him. “And the rest of the world. If it gets out that we’re moving bodies between dimensions…”

“Guys-”

“Told you, bastard child is the way to go,” Bucky insists. “The serum could be passed down, right, Banner?”

“It’s possible,” Bruce concedes, and that’s it, Bruce is off the friend list as well. “No-one knows how the serum affects all of his cells after all-”

Clint cackles with laughter. “Are you saying he’s got super-soldier super-sperm?”

“Guys!” Steve shouts over them, finally at the end of his patience. They’re all sniggering and smiling, and he knows they don’t mean anything by it, and he’s grateful that they’re all on board, he really is, but it’s too fresh and raw right now. If he can’t discuss it with Tony then he’s certainly not discussing it with everyone else. “Can we – I know we’ve got to work this out, but right now, can we not?”

“Message received, Captain,” Bucky salutes, and the rest of them exchange looks which are frustratingly significant.

“Good,” Steve says shortly and then sighs, feeling guilty. He breathes out heavily, props his elbow on the table. The silence stretches out, and _damnit,_ he didn’t mean to make things awkward. He needs to fix this, find some way of breaking the tension that he’s created by being so tightly wound.

“I don’t suppose anyone has got any clothes that will temporarily fit a six year old?”

The question works, a perfect peace-offering of sorts, his compromise to talk about Arto whilst avoiding the big issues he’s not yet able to face. They all turn to each other, shaking their heads and shrugging when it becomes clear no-one has anything that Arto could possibly wear.

“Nope,” Clint says, tapping his bottle of beer against his chin. “Sorry, bro. I think we’re all out.”

“Okay, I’m on it,” Natasha says briskly, before Steve can reply or start thinking of a backup plan. “Finish your dinner, Steve. Barnes, you come and help me. Barton, get that man another beer.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bucky says and obediently gets up.

Steve looks at Natasha, uneasy. “You really don’t-”

“Stop, Steve,” Bruce interrupts him, smiling gently. “Let us, okay?”

“We shall do what we can,” Thor adds. “For you and the boy.”

“What he said,” Natasha says, and walks over to kiss him on the cheek. “Back in half an hour.”

Steve nods wordlessly as she and Bucky leave the room, and looks up as Clint taps his shoulder with a fresh beer bottle. “Would it help if I said I’m fucking stoked that he’s staying?”

Steve sighs, takes the beer gratefully. “Not sure. Tell me again in the morning when I’ve had some sleep.”

“Will do,” Clint says, and claps him on the shoulder. “Hey, Thor, did you ever work out who it was that was fucking with the energy fields in your shiny gold castle in the clouds?”

The conversation turns back to Thor’s business on Asgard and Steve sits back, slowly finishing his food. He doesn’t even try to listen, though he supposes after the day he’s had he can be excused. His thoughts are a million miles away, flitting restlessly through his head but always circling back to the same point.

He’s got a _child_.

He still doesn’t know if he can do this.

 

* * *

 

“No, no, we’ve been over this already, the water goes in the bathtub, not-” 

Tony stops, throwing up a hand as Arto crows with delight and throws himself forwards into the tub again, sending water splashing everywhere. Tony is already soaked, as is the rest of the bathroom. Ah well. It’s only Clint’s bathroom; he’ll get over it.

“Really,” Tony says, wiping his face with his hand. “You are a nightmare, you are a water based terror-”

Arto’s head pokes up over the side of the tub and he laughs at Tony, who is sitting next to the bath on his ass, leaning back against the cool tile of the wall.  His eyes are bright and mischievous, and despite the mess Tony is actually pretty glad Arto didn’t decide to object to bath-time. The moment he saw the tub he’d been in it, without any water and still in his clothes. The clothes in question are on the floor – and drenched – and Tony has no intention of ever letting him put those damn scrubs back on.

“I like the water,” Arto volunteers, gripping the edge of the tub and stretching out, kicking with his feet and sending bubbles everywhere.

“You know, I couldn’t tell,” Tony says seriously, and Arto laughs again. He looks so young and carefree and Tony makes a mental vow to keep that expression on his face as much as he can.

“Look,” Arto says, and scrambles about onto his knees, reaching up and over the edge of the tub with a handful of bubbles with he promptly wipes onto Tony’s hair. He starts to laugh and laugh, and Tony is trying to keep a straight face and can’t quite manage it.

“You are a terror,” he says again, and gives up and starts laughing.

“I like water,” Arto says again. “I can swim.”

“You can swim?” Tony echoes, surprised.

“I can swim further than you.”

“You know, you probably can,” Tony concedes. “But not in the bathtub.”

“Can,” Arto says, and dives under the water, sending another wave over the edge of the tub. In retrospect, Tony shouldn’t have filled it as full as he did. Arto emerges with a sound like a war cry, spreading his arms and jumping up, splashing back down onto his knees.

A knock at the door draws his attention; Tony cranes his head around to see Steve standing there, half in and half out of the door. He looks tired, Tony notices. And not just physically; he’s got that pinched look that says he’s about had it in terms of emotional strain as well.

“Was operation find jammies a success?” Tony asks, trying to keep the tone light. “Operation flood Barton’s bathroom definitely was.”

“I can swim!” Art shouts, and Steve looks startled at the volume.

“He can swim,” Tony repeats with a nod, and winces as more water splashes over the side of the tub.

“Got it, he can swim,” Steve says slowly, and edges into the bathroom. “Courtesy of Bucky and Nat,” he says, and holds out a carrier bag to Tony, rubbing his forehead with his free hand and looking harried. Tony climbs to his feet and takes the bag, looking inside and biting down on a laugh.

“Not a word,” Steve says tiredly. “They think they’re funny.”

“I think they’re hilarious,” Tony says with a wide grin as he fishes out the child-sized set of Captain America pajamas, holding up the top and shaking it out. “Hey, Art, what do you think?”

“What is it?” Arto asks, standing up in the tub and reaching for it. He grasps the bottom of the shirt, next to one of the vertical red stripes.

“Your new pajamas,” Tony tells him. “For sleeping in, and possibly living in until we can order you some new clothes because you are not getting back into those scrubs.”

“Looks like Steve,” Arto says, touching the neat white star that sits on the chest of the shirt.

“Wow, what a coincidence,” Tony says, perfectly straight faced, putting the pajamas down. “Now get out of the tub so I can get you in them. Steve, grab me a towel.”

Steve tosses one over and Tony barely has it held out before he has an armful of wriggling six year old. “Hey,” he laughs, wrapping the towel around Arto’s shoulders, pushing it back off of his head. Arto grins at him, fingers stuck in his mouth and short blonde hair stuck up in damp, wayward spikes. “Holy hell there’s a child in here. Steve, call the Avengers, this towel is actually a child.”

Arto is giggling, trying to wriggle out of Tony’s grip. He’s not serious though; if he truly wanted to get away Tony doesn’t doubt that he’d be well away. He just seems to be playing, and that’s absolutely fine by Tony.

Not so much by Steve though, apparently. He’s still hovering a little way away, watching them with a carefully neutral expression that could easily edge into his new _help-I-am-out-of-my-depth_ look. He’s not bolted though, so Tony’s going to take it as a win.

“Come on, get dressed. There is far too much accidental nudity in this tower without you adding to the mix,” Tony says firmly. Arto shakes his head, rolling off of Tony’s knee and tangling himself up in the towel. He’s still giggling, and Tony pulls the towel back to see bright blue eyes looking at him. 

“You are a pain,” Tony informs him.

“Eleanor shouts,” is Arto’s reply, muffled by the towel. Tony exchanges a startled glance with Steve, who just shrugs helplessly, obviously as clueless as Tony is in regards to the comment.

“Eleanor? The lady that used to look-” Tony breaks off as Arto starts crawling across the bathroom floor towards Steve and the door. “Get back here, brat.”

“No,” Arto replies happily. “I’m the strongest.”

“Er, no you’re not,” Tony says matter-of-factly and snags Arto’s ankle, sliding him back across the floor on the towel. “Steve is, and Steve says get in the damn pajamas.”

Arto laughs and pulls his ankle free from Tony’s grip, rolling away and heading back towards the tub. Tony rocks forwards but he’s not quick enough; Arto vaults back into the bath with a splash.

“Oh for-” Tony says, and starts to laugh. He looks over at Steve who isn’t laughing, but standing pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers, eyes closed.

“Okay, not funny, message received,” Tony says hastily. “Tagging you in, Captain.”

Steve nods and steps over, pushing away from the doorframe. “Out of the tub,” he says to Arto, who ducks under the bubbles and water. He stays submerged for a good ten seconds and then reappears with a splash, eyes wide, spitting water out. “Can you swim?”

“Yes, I can swim,” Steve says with such forced patience that Tony’s surprised he hasn’t broken something. “Get out of the tub.”

Arto rolls onto his back, splashing with his feet. “How far can you swim?”

Closing his eyes, Steve exhales, nostrils flaring, and Tony can literally see him counting to ten inside his head. When his eyes open again, he walks over to the bath and leans over, grabbing Arto under his arms and fishing him out. Arto shouts with laughter, and Tony quickly stands up and snags Arto, wrapping him up in the towel for a second time.

“Behave,” he says, sitting back down with Arto on his knee. “Steve is tired, he cannot be Arto-fishing all night.”

“I am behave,” Arto replies.

“Behaving, the present tense form of that verb is behaving, and currently you are not, you are being a terror and you are making Steve tired,” Tony says. “Now dry off and get in those pajamas, or I’m getting Natasha to take them back to the store.”

Apparently, a combination of threats and guilt-tripping works wonders on Arto. He looks at Steve and nods, then reaches for the edge of the towel and pulls it over his head, attempting to dry his hair. Tony pretty much sits back and lets him get on with it, and a few minutes later Arto is happily tugging on his new pajamas. The blue suits him as much as it does Steve, and when he’s dressed he grins at Steve, running his palms repeatedly over the star on his chest and looking very pleased with himself.

“Like y – y – y,” he starts, cut off by a sudden and massive yawn. He blinks hard, and then looks up across the room. “Steve,” he says quietly, rubbing at his eye with a fist. In that moment he looks sleepy and peaceful and like any other six year old in the world, getting ready for bed.

“Yeah, bedtime,” Tony says as he leans over to drain the tub. “Lead the way, Cap.”

Steve nods and holds out a hand. Arto clambers to his feet, reaching out and holding onto Steve’s fingers with both of his hands. Tony watches them together, and as expected it hits him right in the chest.

 _There’s my super-soldiers,_ he thinks, but he’s not stupid enough to say it out loud, not whilst Steve is still looking as tense as he is.

He grabs a towel and quickly dries himself off, though his shirt and the left leg of his pants are a lost cause anyway. Shrugging, he tosses the towel aside and walks over, gently touching Steve’s shoulder.

“Let’s go,” he says quietly, and Steve nods and walks out of the room, Arto’s hands still gripping his. Arto is quiet and calm, padding softly after Steve in his bare feet, looking around to see where Tony is as he follows. He lets go of Steve’s hand with one of his own to slip two fingers into his mouth, and Tony vaguely thinks that it’s a habit they should probably question at some point-

Steve halts outside Arto’s room, turning to look at Tony. “Is it-?” he begins, and Tony guesses the unfinished question.

“Good as new,” he says, reassuring Steve that the room has been tidied and put back together since the tantrum earlier. He leans past, pushes the door open with one hand. “Ready for little ones to be-”

“ _No!_ ”

Arto bolts. He takes one look into the room and tries to run, ducking away from Steve. Tony moves instinctively to grab him but Steve is the one that’s quick enough to grab him, pulling him back and quickly picking him up so he can’t try and abscond again. Arto grabs hold of Steve tightly, arms locked around his neck.

“Hey, hey,” Tony says hurriedly. “Smart Art, calm down.”

“No, no, no,” Arto continues, voice steadily rising in volume. “No, no!”

“Hey, calm down,” Steve tries. “Time to go to sleep-”

“No!” Arto shouts, and tries to throw himself out of Steve’s grip. “Don’t want to, don’t want to go in there!”

A look of pure frustration passes over Steve’s face, and Tony wishes he could take Arto from him and give him a breather but he can’t, not when Arto is using his strength to try and get away.

“What should I-” Steve begins, and has to stop as Arto plants his hands on Steve’s collarbones and pushes hard against him. He sets his jaw, tries to move Arto’s hands away. “Do you want me to put you down?” he asks shortly, and Arto stops pushing, looking wrong-footed for a moment.

Steve takes Arto’s hands away from his collarbones. “I will put you down if you keep pushing.”

“No,” Arto wails. “With _you._ ”

“With-” Steve starts, and gives up. His jaw is clenched tightly and he looks like he could very easily start shouting. He won’t, though. Tony knows Steve well enough to be able to say that for definite; no matter how much Arto seems determined to piss him off this evening, he won’t shout at him.

“No,” Arto cries again, but he’s not really crying, not like he was earlier. It’s the sort of wailing that’s all show and no substance, and Tony already knows that Arto can turn it on and off at will. His feet start to kick against Steve’s thighs and Tony steps forwards, about to try and appease Arto when Steve simply turns around and walks back towards the stairs.

“Fine,” he says, sounding like he’s just about had enough. “Come on.” 

“Stay with you,” Arto demands, pulling at one of Steve’s ears. Steve reaches up and pushes his hand away.

“Stop,” he says, and Arto flexes his fingers in Steve’s face and bares his teeth, though he doesn’t pull at Steve’s ear again. Steve ignores it and simply heads up the stairs, Arto still held safely in one arm. Tony hurries after him, feeling a little bemused.

“Er, Steve?”

“What?” Steve replies without looking back at Tony, and he sounds honest to god exhausted, like he’d slump to the floor and go to sleep then and there if he could get away with it.

“Plan?”

“Sleep,” Steve says shortly. 

“He coming with us?”

“Yep.”

Tony grins, shaking his head and trying not to laugh, though he’s sure the amusement is obvious in his voice. “You folded like a bad poker hand, Rogers.”

“Shut up, Tony.”

Tony bites his tongue and simply follows Steve all the way up to the penthouse. Arto is looking around with wide eyes, the apparent distress completely gone for the moment.  Steve walks over to the couch that’s in the main living space and deposits Arto on it, who promptly howls and reaches for Steve again, rolling himself over and making grabby hands in the air.

“With you,” he says, and Steve falters, rubbing his brow with his hand and looking like he wants very much to leave Arto where he is and leave the building through the nearest available exit. Maybe even through the window; Tony’s seen him take riskier jumps before.

“We’ll be right next door,” Tony steps in, walking over and crouching down beside the couch. “Look, you sleep here and we’re just through that door,” he tries, but Arto just howls louder, shaking his head. His heels thud back against the frame of the couch and Tony looks up at Steve with a grimace.

Steve stares for a moment and then shakes his head, before stepping over and grabbing Arto again. He lifts him up with his hands tucked under Arto’s arms and Arto twists in his grip, trying to right himself as Steve carries him through to the bedroom and tosses him onto the bed.

Arto hits the mattress with a gasp and flailing limbs, bouncing slightly. He scrambles around, kneeling up and looking around, tantrum once again completely gone. “This is your bed!” he enthuses, immediately pulling at the blankets with his hands. Steve merely walks back out and Tony watches as he easily lifts the couch and carries it through into the bedroom, setting it down next to the bed. Arto watches him do it with wide eyes, something like awe on his small face.

“You still get the couch, kid,” Tony says as Steve disappears into the bathroom, walking over to the closet and heading to the back to find spare blankets and a pillow. When he returns, Arto is looking from the bed to the couch and back again, and then he nods.

“A compromise, hallelujah,” he says, and sets about making some semblance of a bed on the couch.  As he works he feels a small weight slump over his back and smiles.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he says to Arto.

Arto's fingers pull gently at the hair on the back of his head. “Is Steve staying?”

“Yeah,” Tony whispers back. “You know he’s not going to leave you, right?”

Arto just shakes his head, face pressed to the back of Tony’s neck.  He heaves out a sigh and Tony feels a strange warm sensation in his chest, a strange satisfaction that also feels vaguely worrying, in that he doesn’t know how far he’d go to protect that feeling and the small child that’s the cause of it. It’s close to the feeling that settles deep in his chest when he’s with Steve, but not quite the same.

“Come on, get off,” he says, and pushes at Arto who giggles and slides down his back and onto the bed. “Time to sleep.”

“No,” Arto says, and dives for the edge of the blanket, scrambling under it. “No, no, no.”

Tony sighs, staring at the Arto shaped lump that he can see. “The deal was you sleep on the couch, Smart Art.”

“No,” is the muffled reply, and Tony grimaces and decides to leave him there. He hears the bathroom door open again and Steve wanders back into the bedroom, wearing a black pair of pajama pants and no shirt. He’s rubbing a towel over his neck and he doesn’t even pause as he spots the lump under the blankets, just tosses the towel onto the dresser and reaches out to flip the blankets back.

“Move,” he says tiredly, and Arto pouts but does sit up and so, so slowly crawls his way to the edge of the bed, climbing off and onto the sofa.   “Thank you.”

Arto looks genuinely surprised at the praise and Tony feels his heart break a little as Arto smiles up at Steve, all teeth and looking very pleased with himself. He tucks himself into the blankets and lays his head down on the pillow that Tony fetched for him, watching Steve climb into bed.

Steve yawns widely, shutting his eyes and rolling onto his side, facing the couch and Arto. Tony watches Arto watch Steve for a moment and then ducks away to get himself ready for bed. When he comes out of the bathroom, Steve is exactly where he left him but Arto has wriggled off the couch and is curled up next to Steve, head on the corner of Steve’s pillow, eyes closed. Tony smiles, because there’s no way in hell that Steve didn’t feel or hear Arto shifting across, so he’s obviously choosing not to say anything. Probably not a good call in terms of giving into Arto every time he wants something, but still. One night won’t hurt.

“Get in the bed, Tony,” Steve mutters tiredly, without opening his eyes.

“Sir, yes, Sir,” Tony replies and slips into the bed behind Steve. He leans over and presses a kiss to the side of Steve’s face and Steve frowns distractedly, reaching up to push his head away.

“Don’t.”

Tony shakes his head, nuzzling down into Steve’s hair. “Come on. If we’re sharing a bed he’s gonna work out we’re a thing. Besides, Barton already told him.”

“Barton already told me,” Arto echoes sleepily.

“Shush, you,” Tony says. “You are supposed to be sleeping.”

Arto blinks at him, a slow sweep of eyelashes. “I am.”

Tony props himself up on an elbow. “Lies,” he says, reaching over Steve’s shoulder to press his fingertips to Arto’s cheek. “Horrid lies.”

Arto giggles and grabs Tony’s fingers, and his strength is obvious even in the tired grip. “I’m asleep.”

“Both of you, go to sleep,” Steve grumbles, still not opening his eyes.

“Sir, yes, Sir,” Arto says before Tony can open his mouth, and Tony chokes back a laugh. Steve’s eyes open and he just looks at Arto for a long moment, before apparently giving up and shutting his eyes again.

“Sleep,” he murmurs.

“Sleep,” Arto agrees, and wriggles a fraction closer. He shuts his eyes, huffs out a sleepy breath through his nose, opens his eyes and looks at Steve for a moment, and then his eyes slide shut and stay shut.

Tony bends down and kisses the curve of Steve’s jaw again. “Thank you,” he breathes into his ear, and Steve’s forehead creases, fighting back a surge of emotion. He doesn’t reply or even open his eyes, but as Tony settles behind him, he feels a strong hand reach back and pull him close, tugging Tony’s arm around his middle.

More than willing to oblige, Tony curls his body around Steve’s, arm resting over the narrow band of Steve’s waist, fingers brushing the back of Steve’s hand.  He feels Steve’s body relax under his touch, and presses a soft kiss to the back of his neck again.

There’s so much he could say to Steve, about how well he’s doing and how proud Tony is; about how Tony missed him so much over the past few days and is so ridiculously grateful to have him back in his bed and his arms; about how he doesn’t care what happens in this lifetime as long as they stick together, because Natasha was right, them not working is _not an option_ -

He doesn't. Steve doesn’t need all of that right now, he just needs Tony to be there. So Tony stays close to him, breathes out, closes his eyes and sleeps.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a word on where this fits in the whole MCU because some people expressed confusion about why we have Bucky and no Sam in this verse. I started this before CATWS came out, and had decided on a whim I wanted Bucky in it because I was on a big Winter Soldier comic kick at the time. The random comment Steve makes about breaking the government whilst dealing with Bucky as the Winter Soldier was also written pre CATWS, and is thus an utter fluke. I think comic!verse has started to bleed in as well with the whole multiverse shenanigans, and Fantastic Four being present in this verse, so yeah, it's a bit of a mash up, really. That will be all.

The first thing Tony is aware of when he wakes the next morning is the solid line of warmth along his back. Smiling quietly to himself, he yawns and shifts over onto his back, biting his lip as he sees Steve still flat out asleep, lying on his front with his face turned towards Tony, arms hitched up and tucked under his pillow. There’s a small frown on his face even in slumber. Arto is also still dead to the world, slumped over Steve’s back with his face resting against Steve’s shoulder blade, small hand resting next to his face and curled loosely into a fist. His mouth is hanging open and he’s making odd snuffling noises as he breathes, and Tony has to press his lips together hard to stop himself laughing out loud.

Slowly, he looks to the right and reaches out to pick up his phone from the nightstand, before rolling back and silently snapping a photo. He wonders if Steve was woken by Arto encroaching on his personal space in the night, or if he’s going to wake up and be surprised by it. He kind of hopes it’s the former, because that would mean that Steve has decided not to freak out about it, whereas if it’s the latter he could easily wake up and object.

He presses the edge of his phone to his mouth, watching Steve and Arto for a moment, mind already busy planning. He’s got a hell of a lot to do today; ordering clothes and supplies for Arto, liaising with Sue Storm, finding some sort of professional who will be able to help with Arto’s behaviour, devising a system so Arto can safely move around the tower without risk of absconding or injury, calling Pepper and telling her what’s happened and working out what the plan as far as SI is concerned, consulting the rest of the team and coming up with a Arto-contingency plan if there’s an assemble, and prising some sort of decision about back story out of Steve.

Some of it, he imagines, will be easier than the rest.

His eyes travel over Steve’s face, wishing he could kiss away that damn frown. The light from the open blinds shines in golden and warm over the pair of them, and it hits Tony in that moment just how young Steve looks. That’s something he hadn’t considered either, he realizes. Steve is only twenty-seven, and yeah, he’s done so much and been through so much that maybe Tony considers him older and more mature than he actually is where this is concerned.

Leaving Steve and Arto to sleep, he slides out of bed and pads out of the room, yawning widely. He checks the time; the sun is up and he suspects normal people around the city will already be up and working, but he doesn’t know if it’s still too early to call the Reed-Storm household and casually beg for help.

“Jarvis, patch me through to Barton,” he says instead, because he doesn’t care about waking Clint up, wandering to the window and staring out at the city beyond. He waits for a few moments, and then Clint’s voice comes over the speakers, sounding rough and tired.

“Fuck you, it’s too early.”

“I need you to do me a favour.”

“Okay, let me rephrase. It’s too early, fuck you.”

Tony ignores him and carries right on, because he knows Clint and he knows how much Clint likes Arto, so he’s actually got pretty decent odds on Clint saying yes to his request. “A favour. You know, what friends and teammates do for one another.”

Clint snorts tiredly. “Yeah right. After you trashed my bathroom yesterday?”

“I did no such thing,” Tony denies. “Arto did.”

“I can’t believe you’re already passing the blame onto the small child.”

Tony ignores that as well, and cuts to the chase. “Arto needs clothes. If I give you my credit card, will you go pick him some up?”

There’s a pause. “Why can’t you do it?”

“Because I have got literally ten thousand other things to do,” Tony says. “Including child proofing the tower, meeting with various health professionals about his fits of misplaced rage, and I don’t want to leave Steve to look after him alone when he’s literally only just decided that he can handle him at all. I’m delegating what I can. Come on, help me out.”

“Okay, but only because it’s for Arto and not you,” Clint manages through a jaw cracking yawn. “And I’m buying myself lunch on you as well.”

“Done and done,” Tony says. “No purple.”

“That was not part of the agreement,” Clint says dismissively. “How much stuff are we talking?”

“As much as you can carry. An entire new wardrobe. We’re starting from scratch, all he owns in the world are a pair of Captain America jammies so he needs everything. In fact, wake Barnes up and take him as well.”

“Okay, okay. What size feet does Arto have?”

Tony pauses, flummoxed for a moment. “No idea,” he says blankly, his voice sounding strange to his own ears. He lifts his hands to his forehead, pressing the heels of his palms against his temples, feeling a sudden and frightening wave of panic. “Oh my god, I don’t know his shoe size. That’s something I need to know. I don’t know his blood group. I don’t know his fucking birthday either. I literally know nothing.”

“Whoa, whoa, Tony-” Clint protests. “That’s bullshit. You know a lot of shit.”

It’s not the most articulate sentence ever uttered, but Tony gets the sentiment behind the words. He exhales heavily, wrestling the sharp stab of panic back into submission.  “Eloquent as always, Hawkeye.”

“Sir, if I may,” Jarvis interrupts. “Agent Vasquez took measurements from Arto during her initial assessment, and from that I can infer he is approximately a child’s size one.”

“You are a lifesaving genius,” Tony says, relief coursing through him. “Barton, get shoes in size one and a size either way just incase.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Not funny,” Tony says, running a hand through his hair. Jesus. He cannot afford to lose his shit now, no matter how tempting it is. He knows what he needs to do and he will get it done. The determined thought is enough to help him feel more like himself again, though he does make a mental note to ask Arto when his birthday is the moment the kid is awake.

“It’s a little bit funny,” Clint says through another yawn. “What sort of stuff should I get him?”

“How should I know? He’s six. He’s not going to care what he’s wearing,” Tony says, and then pauses. “Go with blue.”

“Captain America blue?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright,” Clint says. “Bring me the dollar. And a cup of coffee.”

Tony resists the urge to tell him to piss off, because even if he’s been a pain in the ass, Clint is helping him out massively by agreeing to go on the shopping trip. “Okay. Be with you in half an hour,” he says, and ends the call. “Cross that off the to-do list, J,” Tony says, stepping away from the window and heading back towards the bedroom.

“Sir, if I may take a liberty, I will remove the item from the list when Agent Barton has successfully returned without incident or injury.”

Tony laughs. “All these months and you still don’t trust Barton, good man. I love you, J. Never change.”

Smiling, he walks back into the bedroom. Steve and Arto are exactly where he left them, still fast asleep, though he’s now pretty sure that Arto has drooled all over Steve’s shoulder at some point, probably because the brat insists on breathing through his mouth and not his nose when he’s sleeping. The same contented feeling that he felt the day before swells in his chest and he rubs absently at the arc reactor. It’s still a little disconcerting, really, that a week ago he and Steve weren’t even openly acknowledging their relationship and now here he is with an official partner and a kid. A family.

He still thinks it’s pretty awesome.

Even though the kid doesn’t have a surname and Tony still doesn’t know when his birthday is. When he thinks about it rationally though, he is actually pretty certain he’s doing an alright job. He’s read the how-not-to-parent manual – shit, he’s lived it – and he thinks he’s got a decent grasp on how to do right by this kid. Well, mostly – he’s not got the specifics worked out, but he knows that the top item on his list is simply time. He will literally bend this world in two to make sure Arto knows they have time for him, even if that requires sacrifice on his part.

Pushing away from the doorframe, he wonders just how many things he can get crossed off the to-do list before Steve wakes up. Maybe four. Four and a half if he’s really on it. But first, making coffee and handing his Visa over to Barton, and just hoping that he could trust him and Barnes to go shopping without causing an international incident or giving the lawyers heartburn. He doesn't really care if what they do, but he’d rather they not do it whilst in possession of his money.

He smiles ruefully, wondering how this is now his life. “Better get on it, Stark,” he murmurs, and heads for the stairs.

 

* * *

 

 

“Steve. Steve. _Steve._ ” 

The whispers of his name slowly bleed into his consciousness, drawing Steve from sleep. For a split second he can’t think who the hell it is, but then it all slots into place. _Ah. Yes. That would be the small child who spent the night sleeping on your back,_ his brain supplies, and even his internal voice sounds weary.

 “Steve.”

 Another, fractionally louder whisper, and then Steve feels small fingers press against his eyelids. He grunts and reaches up to push Arto’s hand away. “I’m asleep,” he grumbles, not opening his eyes.

 There’s a giggle. “Steve,” Arto whispers again, and Steve feels him wriggle closer, hands pushing at his shoulder. “Ste-eve.”

 Still groggy, Steve gives in and opens his eyes. Arto is kneeling on the bed next to him, tousle haired and wide awake, and still wearing those damn Captain America pyjamas. “Tony told me to wake you up.”

 _Tony’s a jerk_ , Steve thinks tiredly. He nods and pushes himself up onto his elbow, rubbing at his eyes and looking around the otherwise empty bed. “Where is Tony?” 

“Don’t know,” Arto says. “He did breakfast and told me to come wake you up. I came by myself.”

Steve isn’t sure how he feels about Arto wandering the tower unsupervised, especially that he’s already shown willingness to hide in the vents and break things when he’s angry. Though Arto doesn’t look remotely angry now; he looks well rested, content and rather pleased with himself.

“Okay,” Steve says. “Did he say why I had to get up?”

Arto nods and reaches forwards, touching Steve’s hair. “Said you had to get your star spangled ass out of bed.”

Steve is going to kill Tony Stark. Or at the very least bash him over the head with the shield a few times. “Right,” he says, deciding to ignore that for the time being. “Didn’t really answer my question, but okay.”

Arto pushes his fingers further into Steve’s hair, threading into the blond strands and tugging gently. Steve lets him do it for a moment, and then reaches up and moves Arto’s hand away. Arto snags hold of his fingers as he does and promptly pulls Steve’s arm around, rolling over into him and bumping against his chest.

“Like it here,” Arto says, lying on his back and blinking up at Steve. He presses a foot against Steve’s hip, pushing against him.

“Yeah?” Steve asks.

“Don't have to stay in lab. People to talk to,” Arto says. He shoves harder with his foot and Steve reflexively grabs it. Arto giggles and kicks out at him with his other foot, and Steve shakes his head.

“Don’t kick,” he says. Arto looks at him and pushes against Steve’s hand again, as if testing how much he can get away with. “I’m serious. No kicking,” Steve says.

“Playing,” Arto says, flexing his toes.

“Yes, but you are stronger than most people,” Steve says. “You won’t hurt me, but if you kick like that at Tony, or at Clint, you’ll hurt them.”

Arto looks confused. “Got to be strongest.”

“You cannot hurt people,” Steve says, unwavering. He meets Arto’s eyes, blue on blue. Arto still looks confused and uncertain, and Steve feels a flicker of doubt creep in, because he doesn’t know if talking to Arto like that will set him off-

Arto pulls his feet free from Steve’s hands and scrambles around, throwing himself on Steve, curling up as small as he can and tucking himself into Steve’s chest. Startled, Steve wraps an arm around him, palm on his back. He opens his mouth but finds he doesn’t know what to say, so just gives up and instead hesitantly strokes his hand over Arto’s shoulders. Arto shudders, trying to wriggle impossibly closer, and Steve finds himself shushing him and rubbing his hand in small circles on his back-

“Why is the small child trying to hide in your cleavage?” Tony asks as he walks in, phone in hand and frown on his face. Steve’s mouth falls open in affront, and then he narrows his eyes at Tony.

“Why did the small child wake me up by telling me to get my star spangled ass out of bed?”

Tony winces. “Wow, he heard that huh? I was on the phone to Sue, I didn’t actually say it to him. Art, why are you trying to hide in Steve’s-”

“If you say cleavage to me, around me or in reference to me ever again,” Steve begins, but doesn’t finish the sentence because he’s just told Arto that he’s not allowed to hurt people, so threatening Tony is probably a little hypocritical of him.

“God, you’re just no fun at all,” Tony says, and walks closer. “Good morning, by the way,” he says, and leans over and kisses Steve on the mouth.

“Yeah, don’t think you’re off the hook that easily,” Steve says, and looks down to Arto who has turned his face around and is watching Tony, eyes bright.

“Don’t listen to him, Arto,” Tony says dismissively, and clambers up onto the bed, kneeling next to them. “He’s not really mad at me. He thinks I’m the best thing in the universe, his world literally revolves around me and my greatness.” Tony reaches out and snags Arto, picking him up with an arm under his knees and one around his back. “I think this belongs to me, I need it back.”

Steve watches as Arto laughs, squirming in Tony’s grip. “No,” he says, pushing against Tony’s chest. “Don’t need me.”

“I do, every minute of every day,” Tony says, shuffling back on his knees. “Steve, I’m taking this. Don’t try and stop me.”

Despite himself, Steve feels a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he watches them. He feels it in his chest, a sense of uncertainty and awe, something that might be pride in Tony and how well he’s doing with this. It’s just like Tony really, to shrug off life-shattering events like it’s nothing. People call Steve brave but honestly, after everything Tony has ever been through and the way he can just keep on going, he thinks Tony’s the bravest man he’s ever met.

“Steeeeve,” Arto says through his laughter as Tony climbs off the bed, hitching Arto up. He throws his arms out towards Steve, fingers grasping at air.

“Sorry, nope, you are mine and I am exercising my rights of ownership,” Tony says. “Stop wriggling, or I am going to drop you on your head.”

Arto makes a loud chirping, beeping noise and twists around; Tony laughs and sets him on the floor. Arto grins, scrambling to his feet and grabbing a fistful of Tony’s shirt.

“Like it here,” he says, and pulls hard on Tony’s shirt. There’s a ripping sound and Tony immediately grabs for his wrist.

“Whoa, super-strength,” he says. “This is my eleventh favourite shirt, be nice to it. You don’t see me ripping your Captain America jammies.”

Arto lets go of the fabric immediately, pressing his hands defensively over the star on his chest. “No.”

“The word you’re looking for is sorry,” Tony tells him. “You now say, sorry shirt, I didn’t mean to rip you.”

“Sorry shirt I didn’t mean to rip you,” Arto repeats immediately.

“There we go,” Tony says easily. “Now scram. Your tablet is through there on the couch. I want to talk to Steve.”

Arto looks at Steve, uncertain. “Just in the next room,” Steve says and he nods and darts away, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

“He makes strange noises,” Tony says, and walks back to the bed, sitting on it and tucking a leg up underneath him. He looks bright and awake, fully dressed in dark jeans and a well worn t-shirt. Steve spots his hair is slightly damp, curling over his ears.  He wants to pull him close and press his face into the hollow of his throat, inhale the scent of clean skin and warmth.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Steve says. “You think it’s normal?”

“I have no idea,” Tony replies. “But I’m assembling a team of people who might.”

“Yeah? Who?”

“I called Phil this morning, after I spoke to Sue Storm. She’s coming over for breakfast by the way, it’s why I sent Smart-Art to get you up. Anyway, Phil did some digging on our behalf and has found a guy called Yasin Amir. He’s an expert in child psychology, apparently, and he’s willing to come and work with us.”

“Do we trust him?” Steve asks. He glances towards the door as he hears a thump and Arto making another high pitched beeping noise.

“Coulson seems to think he’s okay,” Tony says. “He’s ready to contact him…”

“But?”

“But we need to have our stories straight before we speak to him,” Tony says apologetically. “If we don’t want to broadcast the fact Art’s from another dimension then we can’t let anyone know outside of who already does. I mean, I have faith in Phil’s patented _‘I will do horrendous things to you with a stun-gun if you break confidentiality’_ speech, but why take the risk.”

Steve looks at him, contemplative. “You don’t think we should tell anyone he’s from another dimension.”

“No,” Tony says, honest and unapologetic. “We make up some story about him being cloned here, or being yours here, we can deal with that. But the minute people clock we’ve been moving people between dimensions…we pretty much broke the only law on inter-dimensional travel by bringing him back. We’re just lucky that there aren’t actually any official rules on it yet, because Reed didn’t officially tell anyone that he’d managed it.”

“Sounds like Reed,” Steve murmurs, thinking hard. He rubs his mouth with his hand. “Give me time to think it over?” he asks. “I’ll work out what I’m going to tell everyone and call Phil later this afternoon.”

Tony looks taken aback. “You will?”

“Yes, I will,” Steve says, and Tony smiles, the small soft smile that Steve only ever sees directed at him. Steve smiles back, a weak hitch to the corner of his mouth. He sits up properly, lifting a knee under the covers and propping his elbow on it, rubbing a hand over the back of his head.

“How did Phil even know we needed a psychologist?”

“Barton,” Tony shrugs. “Hard to miss the black eye and the lump on his head. Phil wanted to know who was beating up his precious baby bird.”

“I hardly think Phil sees Clint as precious. He threatens to kill him at least once a week.”

“It’s a threat delivered with love,” Tony says with a huff of laughter. “I think the rationale is that no-one gets to main Barton but him.”

Steve laughs tiredly, and Tony slides a hand to join Steve’s on the back of his neck, tangling their fingers together. “Feeling okay this morning?” Tony asks. “You look better. Less stressed.”

“Better,” Steve says honestly. “Okay.”

Tony’s mouth twitches. “Were you aware of him commandeering you as a mattress last night?”

“Yes,” Steve says wearily. “I put him back on the couch twice, gave up with the couch and moved him off me onto the bed three times and then just gave up.”

“I think he appreciated it,” Tony says with a warm, grateful smile. Steve just swallows, the knot of anxiety still there in his stomach.

“How are you finding this so easy?”

“Look at me,” Tony instructs, and Steve does, lifting his chin to meet Tony’s eyes with a little trepidation. “This morning, I nearly had a panic attack because I realized I didn’t know when his birthday was.”

Steve frowns, not sure what Tony’s getting at. “You did?”

“Yes,” Tony says. “I was talking to Barton and I literally nearly dropped to the floor in a pile of tears and self-loathing because I realized didn’t know the kid's shoe size. I didn’t know that, and I don’t know his goddamn birthday. Look, it’s not easy. But I’m doing it for him, so all my panicking, all my bullshit has to take a back seat.”

Steve feels a combination of guilt and mild-offense roll through him, hearing the unspoken implication in the words. “And I’m not doing that. You’re doing it just fine, and I-”

“Darling, you are doing just fine,” Tony interrupts. “Take it from someone who is both a little older and wiser than you are.”

“A little bit older?” Steve asks, and the corner of Tony’s mouth twitches.

“A minuscule little bit,” Tony says. “It’s a bullshit explanation really, but I am older, ergo more emotionally resilient. You don’t stop growing up when you hit twenty-five, you know. And if you’re Barnes or Barton, you don’t start growing up until you hit twenty-five-”

“Cut them some slack,” Steve says. “They’re being better than me at the moment.”

“Yeah, actually, they’ve surprised me,” Tony says thoughtfully. “Look, Steve, I know I haven’t helped one bit. I expected you to be on the same page as me from the get go, but you weren’t. That wasn’t entirely your fault, and I shouldn’t have made you feel like it was.”

Steve nods, and reaches for Tony’s elbow. He tugs him closer and Tony goes willingly, leaning over him and gently kissing him. He tastes familiar and comforting, and Steve tightens his grip on him marginally. Tony pulls back but Steve shakes his head wordlessly, catching Tony’s mouth again. He holds onto Tony’s words in his mind; hearing them this morning feels infinitely better than it did the day before-

“Are you married?”

They break apart and Steve looks up to see Arto standing in the doorway, tablet in hand and suspicious look on his face.

“Good god, no,” Tony says, startled.

Arto just eyes them for a moment longer. “Okay,” he says, and turns around and walks back out.

Steve watches him go, open mouthed. He mentally shakes himself and then looks at Tony, who just shrugs. “Beats me,” he says. “Now get up.”

Steve nods and climbs out of the bed. He ducks into the bathroom to shower, taking his time under the hot spray. He knows he can’t really afford to dawdle, not with people on the way and the huge amounts of Arto related tasks that they need to get done, but he can’t bring himself to rush. It feels like a moment of respite, twenty minutes in which he can be alone and just breathe, and not have to do anything.

He braces his arm against the wall of the shower, letting the spray pelt between his shoulder blades and realizing that for the first time in days, he feels like himself. The ball of stress and anxiety still sits there in the pit of his stomach, but now it feels like something that he can deal with. Maybe its Tony’s confession that he’s also freaking out, maybe it’s that he’s actually spending time with Arto that doesn’t involve mayhem and bloodshed. Maybe he’s just getting over the shock, he doesn’t know.

Fuck it. He’s Steve Rogers. He’s Captain America. And he can be as scared as he likes, as long as he still does what needs to be done.

He turns and rinses his hair under the water, breathing out through his mouth, mind already turning over a plan of action. He grasps onto the idea gratefully, because he’s always at his best when he’s planning, strategizing, working out what to do. Though there is the slight complication that he doesn’t have a fucking clue about what to do with a six-year-old copy of him from an alternative dimension; the anxious feeling in his gut threatens for a moment, and with it comes an urge to stay hidden in the shower all damn day-

 _No,_ he tells himself. _No more running, no more hiding._

It’s not as hard as he thought it would be to step out of the shower and back into the world. He gets dressed, looks at himself in the mirror for a long, hard moment and then walks out of the bedroom and back into the living space. Tony is sitting on the one remaining couch with Arto sprawled next to him, looking at the tablet in fascination. Tony is showing him something, and Arto’s eyes are wide and curious.

“Apparently, we like sharks,” Tony says vaguely to Steve without looking up. “Hey, you can get sharks as pets, right?”

“Teeth,” Arto says, reaching out and touching the tablet. He takes over from Tony, flicking through pictures, eyes and fingers both moving rapidly.

“Sharp teeth,” Tony says. “Good for eating small children who don’t sleep in their own beds.”

“ _Tony,_ ” Steve interjects, but Arto just grins and bares his teeth at Tony. Steve shakes his head and walks over, leaning on the back of the couch. “I assume he’s staying in the pajamas?”

“Assumption correct, seeing as I threw those scrubs he had on in the trash. Barnes and Barton have gone shopping for him,” Tony says. “I delegated.”

“You do realize that that means he’s going to end up with a wardrobe consisting entirely of Avengers merchandise or things in various shades of purple?”

“On my list of things to care about, that is a concern that is fairly low down,” Tony says. “Right, Smart-Art, we’ve got a friend coming over and your presence is required. You need to be there.”

Arto draws back, looking suspicious. “Who. Why?”

“My friend Sue is coming to drink coffee with us and admire how cute you are.”

Arto still doesn’t look sure. “Steve is coming for breakfast too,” Tony says, and of course that makes it all okay. Arto nods immediately and climbs up onto the couch cushions, leaning over the back and reaching up for Steve. Steve leans forwards and swings him up without thinking about it, setting him on his hip.

“Sharks have teeth,” Arto tells Steve.

Steve glances at him as he wanders back into the bedroom, leaning down and snagging his phone off the dresser, careful not to tip Arto too far as he does. “Yeah, they do,” he agrees as he flicks it open with his thumb and sees a message from Bucky. He opens it and stares at the picture he’s been sent; an image of Clint wearing his usual sunglasses and shit-eating grin, standing in the aisle of a department store. He’s holding up an Iron Man kid’s costume in one hand, giving the camera a thumbs up with the other. The text underneath reads _‘Can we dress baby Cap as a baby Iron Man?’_

Steve shakes his head. _‘You are not funny,’_ he texts back, hitching Arto up with his other arm and wandering back out of the bedroom, eyes still on his phone.

The reply comes through almost immediately. _‘I love you.’_

 _‘If you loved me you’d stop.'_  

He shoves his phone into the pocket of the sweatpants he’s wearing. Tony is standing there with a questioning expression on his face.

Steve just arches an eyebrow at him. “When Bucky and Clint get back, I am blaming everything stupid they have done entirely on you.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Avengers merchandise and shades of purple?”

“Entirely your fault,” Steve reiterates, catching Arto’s hand as he pulls at the neck of Steve’s shirt, holding gently onto his fingers so he doesn't do it again and rip it. 

“Sir, Sue Storm has arrived,” Jarvis’s voice says calmly over the speakers.

“Gotcha,” Tony says. “Bring her up, tell her we’ll meet her on the communal floor. Where is everyone else?”

“The only other person currently in the tower is Doctor Banner, and he is currently in the kitchen.”

Steve follows Tony down from the penthouse. “Lift?” Tony asks Arto, who shakes his head violently. “Stairs it is,” he says, and together they walk down the four floors to the communal floor. When they arrive they find Sue Storm already there, sitting at the counter with Bruce, cup of coffee in front of her.

“Good morning,” she says warmly, and even though part of him wants no-one to know about the current state of affairs in the tower, most of Steve is glad to see her. Her own children are seven and four respectively, so she’s probably the best person to have around right about now. Not that her children are genetically engineered super-soldiers with violent tempers, but it’s a start.

“Morning beautiful,” Tony says, walking over and leaning in to kiss her cheek. “Thank you for coming over.”

“Any time,” she says, gently touching his elbow and then turning to look at Steve. She looks bright and well, dressed casually and with her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. “So, who is this handsome young gentleman?”

“You know who Steve is,” Tony says dismissively, and Sue shakes her head, looking amused.

“I’m Sue,” she says to Arto, who is leaning against Steve’s shoulder and looking at her with wide eyes. He looks like butter wouldn’t melt, perfectly innocent. “I’m a friend of Steve and Tony’s.”

Arto still doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t seem fazed. Across the counter, Tony is making more coffee and Bruce is sitting watching, expression quiet and contemplative.

“I like your pajamas,” Sue says, reaching out to gently touch the sleeve of Arto’s blue top. “You look very heroic.”

“Like Steve,” Arto suddenly says, and Sue smiles.

“You know, I thought you reminded me of someone,” she says with a mischievous smile, and Arto grins and hides his face back in Steve’s shirt.

Steve is torn between being impressed, grateful, taken aback and mildly annoyed. He shakes his head and pulls out a chair with his free hand. “Gonna get down?” he asks Arto.

“No,” Arto says, and he grabs hold of Steve’s shirt in both fists, and bingo. There’s the Arto that Steve knows. “No, no, no.”

“Jeez, Art, we heard you the first time,” Tony says. “Here. Coffee for Steve and juice for small creature.”

“So, Tony’s filled me in on the basics,” Sue says as Steve sits down next to her, Arto still on his lap. Her expression is calm and understanding, and Steve feels it like a weight on his shoulders. It feels a little like how the shield does some days; a wonderful privilege and a terrible burden all at the same time.

“Yeah,” Steve says, uncertain of what to say. He’s very aware of Arto sitting there listening to every word.

“Hey, Smart-Art, let’s go hook you up with some cartoons,” Tony says suddenly. “Come on. Let Steve drink his coffee in peace and catch up with Sue, and he’ll come play with you when we’re done. How about you watch cartoons and draw him a picture, and after we’re done here with boring adult stuff, he’ll draw you one back.”

Arto doesn’t look sold on the idea. “Can’t draw,” he says suspiciously.

“Oh yes he can,” Tony says. “He might even draw you a shark, if you ask nicely enough.”

“Okay,” Arto immediately says, and slides off Steve’s knee and heads over to the TV, scrambling onto the couch.

“So, you seem to have already got the hang of the first rule of parenting,” Sue observes, looking amused.

“What, bribery and extortion?” Tony replies distractedly as he moves around the kitchen, opening a cupboard and pulling out a packet of bagels, tossing them onto the table in front of Steve. “Yeah, it sometimes works. Jarvis, give the boy the cartoons. Anything but Spongebob Squarepants.”

“Why the aversion to Spongebob?” Bruce asks with a raised eyebrow.

“They water plants,” Tony says, and Bruce stares at him, nonplussed. “They live under the water, and they water the plants. No. That’s an insult to intelligence and I won’t tolerate it.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” Steve says wearily.

“You don’t need to ask, Steve. They water plants underwater.”

“Tony, you try and – and I’m quoting you directly here – you try and ‘break physics’ on a regular basis and you’re objecting to a kid’s cartoon for making a joke out of doing the same?”

“Heathen,” Tony replies. “Bruce, tell him.”

Bruce just frowns slightly, resting his elbow on the edge of the table and observing Tony critically, eyes slightly narrowed and thoughtful expression firmly in place. “You are in charge of raising a child,” he says contemplatively, and Sue laughs into her mug of coffee.

“I’m not in charge, Steve is in charge,” Tony says, and Steve catches the faint edge of a wince, almost as if Tony’s realized what he just said. “You want those toasting?” he asks, nodding at the bagels and trying to casually recover from his slip.

“Yeah,” Steve says, finding that he's actually not all that bothered by Tony saying he's in charge. He knows he is, but after yesterday he also knows that the others have got his back. “What have we got to go in them?”

“Cream cheese, eggs, bacon, ham,” Bruce fills in. “No salmon, Bucky ate that earlier."

“Cream cheese and ham it is,” Steve says, and makes to get up.

“I got it,” Tony says, slipping a hand onto Steve’s shoulder to keep him in his seat.

Steve narrows his eyes. “You normally complain when you end up making me breakfast.”

“Horrid lies,” Tony says, and Sue laughs. “I’m being kind, why do you always look suspicious when I’m being kind.”

“Because your brand of being kind never involves making food for other people,” Steve says matter-of-factly, and grins as Tony shoves at his shoulder before moving away.

“I’m liking this,” Sue says, nodding towards them and still smiling. “You two are adorable now you’re not acting like you hardly know each other.”

“Also horrid lies,” Tony says, pulling open the refrigerator. “We are not adorable.”

“I’d have to agree,” Bruce says dryly. “You’re more like..like a penrose triangle.”

“A what?” Steve asks, looking from Bruce to Tony.

“An impossible triangle,” Tony says, pulling various tubs out of the refrigerator and sliding them onto the counter in front of Steve, before snagging the packet of bagels and walking over to the toaster. “The illusion.”

“Oh, like the impossible stairs?”

“Yes,” Bruce nods. “I mean, you look at you two together, and it shouldn’t make sense, but it does.”  

“That’s a good way of putting it,” Sue muses. “You two do make sense in a very strange, inexplicable way.”

“Don’t say that in front of Reed, he’ll hear the word _inexplicable_ and take it as a challenge,” Tony mutters vaguely, eyes on the toaster. “Hey, Steve, I hope you’re not fussy about how toasted these things come out.”

“Not in the slightest,” Steve says, choosing not to get involved with the conversation about just how much sense he and Tony do or do not make. He’s still firmly of the opinion that even if they are now more open about their relationship, it is their business and no-one elses.

“TONY.”

Tony looks up from the toaster as Arto shouts his name, scrambling up over the back of the sofa, kneeling up on the cushions and gripping the back with both hands.

“What?”

“Don’t have my tablet.”

“Go and get it then,” Tony says, nonplussed. “You left it upstairs, right? You know the way by now. We will be here when you get back, promise.”

Arto nods and clambers off the sofa, running across to the stairwell and vanishing out of sight. Steve can hear him scrambling up the stairs at a fair speed, and hopes he doesn’t fall or hurt himself.

“You sure it’s wise letting him go around by himself?” Bruce asks carefully, and Steve is glad that he’s not been the one to say it.

“Jarvis has got it,” Tony shrugs, reaching over to grab a plate just as the toaster makes a faint beeping sound. He extricates the bagels and hands the plate to Steve.

“What if he gets into the vents again?” Steve says pointedly as he takes the plate with a nod of thanks.

“Then we send Barton in to get him out,” Tony says. “You’re asking me this like I have any idea what I’m doing. I don’t. I just – he’s clearly got issues about being left on his own, away from _you_ ,” he emphasizes, nodding at Steve, “so if he’s willing to do something by himself, I’m all for it.”

“Wait, he got into the vents?” Sue asks, frowning.

“Yes, when he first got here. He also punched Clint in the face, bit Bucky, demolished the guest room when I wasn’t here and refused to sleep in his own bed last night,” Steve says bluntly.

“Yeah, don’t let the innocent act fool you,” Tony says. “He’s…got issues. He doesn’t communicate well. He doesn’t always listen. Shouts and screams to get his own way, and you can imagine a temper tantrum from a miniature super-soldier who's been raised in a lab by Hydra scientists-”

“Barely,” Sue says, with a pained expression. “Sounds like a handful.”

“And the rest,” Tony says. “Doesn’t help that we’ve only got two people in the building that are capable of dealing with him when he does flip out. Well, three if you count Thor, but he's in and out so often that it's not sensible to rely on him to be here.”

Sue nods. “It can’t be all bad, though?” she ventures. “What is he like when he’s not - not so angry?”

Steve, with a mouthful of bagel, finds himself unable to answer, but luckily Tony dives straight in for him. “Clingy, handsy, pretty quiet,” Tony shrugs. “Likes to watch people. He doesn’t talk a lot. Well, he’s talking more than he did but his vocabulary is shot to all hell. He knows more swear words than he does colours.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope,” Tony says without pause. “He likes to draw, which is a happy coincidence. He also likes being in the bath, Lucky Charms and watching Clint play computer games. Not actually all that much to go on.”

“Well, he’s not been here long,” Sue reasons. “At least you’ve worked out some things he likes. It must be pretty scary for him being here so suddenly.”

“I don’t think he’s scared,” Steve says without thinking, wiping his fingers absentmindedly on his jeans. “Not of being here, anyway. Confused, maybe. If he’s scared of anything, he’s scared of being taken somewhere else again.”

“Well he’s not going anywhere again, so that’s not an issue,” Tony begins.

“Tony,” Bruce interjects softly, and nods over towards the stairwell. Arto is standing there, just visible around the corner wall. He doesn't move for a long moment, so Steve holds out a hand and Arto darts over, his tablet clutched in his hand.

“There you are,” Tony says as Arto scrambles up onto Steve’s knee, looping an arm around his neck and nearly knocking Steve’s plate off the edge of the table with a wayward foot. “What, you get lost on the way?”

Arto’s chooses to ignore him, curling around and burying his face in Steve’s neck, heaving out a sigh. Steve grimaces and tries to gently prise Arto’s arms from around his neck, feeling the corner of the tablet digging into his spine.

“Remember the deal, Short Round,” Tony says, shoving Steve's breakfast into relative safety at the center of the table. “Come on.”

He stands up and steps up, slotting his hands under Arto’s arms. He goes to pull him back but he just clings tighter to Steve, making a high-pitched squeak. Tony pulls an exasperated face, and doesn’t let go. “I know you heard me, you horrid creature. Let him go or no drawing later.”

Arto makes another chirping noise and loosens his hold on Steve marginally. Steve nods at Tony and Tony heaves Arto up, lifting him with hands under his arms. Arto laughs and lets himself go limp, arms and legs dangling in space.

“You are a terror,” Tony tells him matter-of-factly, and Arto just giggles. “An absolute terror, I am going to feed you to the sharks, just see if I don’t.”

Steve turns back to the others as Tony deposits Arto on the sofa, running a gentle hand over his head. Sue is watching Tony with a thoughtful expression on her face, and then she turns back to Steve. “Is he always so clingy with you?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, immediately reaching out his his breakfast again; he’s got an odd feeling that he’s going to have to grab opportunities to eat whenever he can if Arto keeps being a pain at mealtimes. “I mean, he gets on with Tony and Clint, but he tends to cling to me.”

“Why you?” Sue asks, sounding intrigued. “Does he know-?”

“Because Steve is the strongest,” Tony interjects as he walks back over. “He equates being stronger with being better, probably because of his upbringing a la Hydra scientists. When he got here, he had a meltdown in the lab and Steve was the only one strong enough to pin him. Well, Bucky could have, but Steve was the one who did.”

“Franklin went through a clingy phase,” Sue says, cupping her mug in his hands. “For about a week I was at a complete loss, I couldn’t even put him down without him screaming.”

“How did you get over it?” Tony asks.

Sue grimaces. “Had to learn to put up with the screaming,” she says ruefully. “He got over it pretty quickly when he learned that screaming didn’t mean getting picked back up. Children need the boundaries.”

“Boundaries?” Bruce repeats, sounding dubious.

“Yes, I realize that I’m saying this to two men who spend ninety percent of their time pushing and breaking every boundary they come across,” Sue says with a faint smile. “But he’s going to need them. He’s going to have to learn what is okay and what isn’t, and you have to stick with it.”

“Easier said than done,” Bruce says, looking from Steve to Tony and back to Sue. “You say no to this kid and he could easily break an arm or a leg.”

Sue glances over to where Arto is watching the television, mouth hanging open and tablet clutched forgotten in his hands. He looks perfectly content and like a normal six-year-old, but Steve feels the anxiety returning, unease churning in his stomach because Arto is not normal, and he knows Sue is trying to help but all it’s doing is reminding him of everything he doesn’t know how to deal with-

“True,” Tony says absently, drumming his fingers on the table-top. “Gonna be problematic when we start introducing him to new people. I mean, he’s going to need to meet people his own age, but what happens when they don’t share and he breaks them?”

“And if he’s six, he should legally be in some form of education,” Bruce says thoughtfully.

“We can’t put him in mainstream,” Tony replies instantly. “Not state, not private. Not even if he wasn’t a super-soldier.”

“No-one would expect you to,” Sue says gently. “There are other options though.”

The anxiety wallowing in Steve’s gut floods immediately and painfully into outright panic. Fuck, Tony is nodding and Sue is talking about home tutors, and they haven’t even got the kid to sleep in his own fucking bed or eat a proper meal and they’re already miles ahead of him-

His phone rings.

He stands up, pulling it out of his pocket, sheer dizzy relief coursing through him as he sees Bucky’s name on the screen. He holds it up to Tony who nods, and Steve ducks out of the room, answering the call as he does.

“I love you,” he says without preamble, taking the stairs down three at a time. “Never let me tell you any different.”

“Ohhhh-kay,” Bucky says, sounding wary. “What did I do? What did _you_ do?”

“Sue Storm is here and she and Tony and Bruce are talking about damn schools,” he says, his feet taking him automatically into the gym. He walks over to the boxing ring and rolls neatly under the ropes, lying flat on his back atop the canvas.

“Whoa, that’s a bit much ain’t it?” Bucky says, sounding confused. Steve can hear faint voices and bustle in the background; Bucky and Clint must still be out shopping. “Let me guess, you are now freaking out.”

“LIttle bit,” Steve admits, breathing out as he throws an arm up over his eyes.

“Well you know Tony,” Bucky says. “He’s a thousand light years ahead of everyone else. He can’t help it, it’s just the way his brain works.”

Steve sighs. “I really need to get my act together,” he says glumly. “If you’re still the one talking sense into me.”

“Oh har fucking har,” Bucky says. “I’ve been talking sense into you since nineteen twenty eight, don’t act like it’s something new, Spangles.”

“It’s just so damn hard,” Steve hears himself say. “I think I’ve got my footing and then Tony does or says something to completely knock me sideways and leave me feeling utterly incompetent.”

Bucky pauses. “You ain’t gonna fall out with him again, are you?”

“God, no,” Steve says. “I’m not even mad at him about it. I’m just saying. That’s how I feel.”

“I your fucking personal therapist now or something?”

“You’ve been doing it since nineteen twenty eight, why stop now?” Steve says, and Bucky snorts with laughter. Steve sighs again, rubbing at his forehead. “The kid spent the whole night asleep on my back.”

“What, like a koala?”

Steve sighs. “Yes, Bucky. Like a koala.”

“Why wasn’t he in his room?”

“He wouldn’t,” Steve says, and he sounds defensive even to his own ears. “He wanted to stay with me and started kicking and screaming, so I let him.”

“Pushover,” Bucky says cheerfully.

“I changed my mind, I hate you,” Steve says grumpily. “Why are you calling me, anyway.”

“We finished buying clothes for the koala.”

“And?”

“We ended up in Toys R Us.”

Steve shuts his eyes, pinches the bridge of his nose, because he knows Clint and he knows Bucky and he’d almost rather set them on task to defuse a bomb than let them loose in a toy store when they’ve got mischievous intent.

“You know, I’m glad that you’ve lightened up some since the whole Winter Soldier thing, but please leave the toy store.”

“Aw, Stevie, you wound me. I’m so well behaved. Too cool for playing around in toy stores.”

“Yeah nice try. I’d maybe believe that if you weren’t there with Clint.”

“Hey Barton,” Bucky calls, and his voice goes distant, presumably as he leans away from the phone to talk to Clint. “Captain America thinks you’re a bad influence.”

“ _Bucky_."

“Right. We’re buying baby-you toys. I thought you might object to giving him a nerf gun.”

“Objection sustained,” Steve says immediately. “Do not buy him anything that looks or acts like a weapon.”

“Told you,” Bucky says, and his voice has gone distant again. “Barton, no mini-bow.”

“No, definitely no mini-bow,” Steve calls vehemently, hoping that his voice carries and is enough to dissuade Clint from what sounds like a monumentally bad idea. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.

“You’re no fun,” he hears Clint say in the background, but there are no further objections or arguments, so he can only hope that the pair are listening.

“Alright Daddy Rogers,” Bucky says breezily, “how about action figures?”

“Yes.”

“Avengers action figures?”

“No.”

“Okay. Puzzles?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, how about - wait, Barton has found legos. You can’t go wrong with legos, right?”

“Just make sure it’s nothing that can be easily weaponized, and nothing electronic that Tony is going to take offense to and dismantle,” Steve says, and even as he says it he has a vague feeling that this isn’t a conversation that many new parents across the country have had to partake in.

“Okay, how about - oh my fucking god yes. Barton, yes - get it right now. No I don’t care, get it-”

“What?” Steve asks in alarm. “Bucky, what?”

“Not a weapon, not electric,” Bucky says promptly. “Call you back.”

“Bucky!”

The call cuts out. Steve lifts his phone and stares at the screen. “Bastard,” he mutters, though there’s not much heat behind it. He feels grateful that Bucky and Clint are helping, though he feels oddly guilty that he’s not there helping choose things for Arto. Not that he’s ever going to voluntarily put himself through the hassle of navigating Toys R Us, but he still feels like he should at least want to.

He presses his phone between his brows. He should probably go back upstairs to Tony, Sue and Bruce, but knowing them they’ve probably started a damn college fund for the kid and got his majors all picked out. Steve can’t help but resentfully think that it was only about an hour ago that Tony was saying he was freaking out about not even knowing the kids birthday.

Steve breathes out heavily, absently rubbing his stomach with one hand. He’s worried about Tony, worried that he’ll burn out. He’s seen it before, where Tony has jumped into something with both feet and pushed himself too far. He seems pretty in control of everything this time though, and the fact he’s delegating jobs to Clint and actually looking for advice from people who know better than him is a good sign.

Steve taps his phone against his forehead and then flips it around, lifting both hands so he can open a text, pausing for a moment before selecting Tony’s name.

_'Do you need me back up there?'_

The reply comes within seconds.

_ 'take a breather if you need. Smart Art is fine.' _

Steve exhales in relief, grateful that Tony understood and has given him an out.

_ 'just need half an hour.' _

_'Yep'_

Tony’s reply is a simple acknowledgement, and Steve knows from that that he genuinely doesn't mind Steve ducking out. If he had a problem, he’d tell Steve straight. Or bring the problem straight to Steve, and he wouldn't put it past Tony to drag Arto, Sue and Bruce all down to his location just to prove a point.

He tosses his phone onto the canvas next to his hip, breathing out heavily and pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes for a moment, and then sits up. He’s not going to spend all day lying about and worrying; he’s going to work off some steam for half an hour and then go back and check on Arto like he said he would.

He vaults neatly out of the ring and heads to the lockers that are embedded neatly into the far wall of the gym. He opens the one furthest on the right and pulls out a fresh wrap for his hands, planning on working over one of the heavy bags for a while, seeing as he’s alone. He could do with a good sparring session in all honesty, but Bucky is out and Natasha is - actually, he has no idea where Natasha is. He’ll call her later and make sure she’s not been run out of the tower by the whole small-child-fiasco.

“Hey Jarvis,” he says thoughtfully as he nudges the locker shut with his shoulder, carefully wrapping his left hand. “Can Arto get in here, if he wanted to?”

“Master Arto cannot enter the gym without supervision,” Jarvis says. “The only floors he may enter unsupervised are the communal floor, Agent Barton’s floor and the penthouse.”

Steve frowns, surprised. “Since when?”

“Sir thought it prudent to establish some limits,” Jarvis says. “The rest of the tower space is open to Arto, and he can enter if an adult is in the room somewhere. If he attempts to enter any other space in the tower alone, I secure the doors so he cannot and alert Sir. The laboratories and workshops are also also off limits, and I will not let him into them unless an adult collects him from the door. ”

Huh. That’s actually a pretty good system, Steve acknowledges. “So he can get in here if I’m in here?”

“Yes. Would you prefer me to extend the limits so he cannot?”

“What? No, no,” Steve says. “I just don’t want him to hurt himself. When did Tony do this?”

“This morning, whilst you and Arto were sleeping,” Jarvis informs him.

“Okay,” Steve says, and finishes wrapping his hands. “Jarvis, if I’m in the tower, will you extend that alert to me as well?”

“Of course,” Jarvis says quietly, and even if he's an AI Steve feels like there's approval in the way he says it.

Steve nods, walking over to the punching bag that’s suspended from a heavily reinforced frame. He stretches as he goes, making sure his body is limber enough. His shoulder doesn't even hurt anymore, not from being dislocated or from where he’d been shot, but he’s not really used it properly since it healed; the most strenuous activity he’s had since has been having sex in the shower and restraining Arto. Not exactly the most taxing exercise.

“Half an hour, Rogers,” he murmurs to himself, and shoves at the punching bag with the flat of his palm, making it sway slightly before stepping back with his feet apart and his fists raised. “Then back in the game."


	9. Chapter 9

_'Do you need me back up there?'_

Part of Tony reads the message and immediately wants to text Steve back and say yes. Yes, you need to be here. Yes, Sue has come over this morning for the sole purpose of helping us deal with your child, so you need to get your ass back up here pronto.

He doesn’t. The fallout they’d had is still too recent, too raw, and he might be an asshole sometimes but he’s not going to push Steve when he’s explicitly told Tony to back off. Besides, Steve has stepped up in a big way even though it’s clearly exhausting for him, and Tony’s not going to ignore that.

_'take a breather if you need. Smart Art is fine.'_

“Is he okay?”

Tony glances up at Bruce, phone still in hand. “What? Yeah, he’s just talking to Barnes.”

“Isn’t Bucky with Clint?”

“Supposedly,” Tony says. “I sent them shopping for supplies. Clothes and stuff for Arto.”

“You trusted Bucky and Clint?” Sue asks, sounding a little wary. She doesn’t know Bucky all that well, but it’s no secret that she doesn’t have a particularly high opinion regarding Clint’s capacity for responsibility. Tony doesn't really care; she hasn’t seen him actually with Arto, and if Tony hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he’d feel the same.

Bruce’s mouth twitches. “You do realise that they’ll come back with-”

“Yes, Avengers merchandise and things in shades of purple,” Tony finishes. “Steve already pointed that out. I can only hope that Steve is policing Barnes who will exercise some restraint over Barton. Nevermind, I just heard that sentence out loud and realised how ridiculous it is.”

Bruce and Sue both laugh. “They are a pair,” Bruce chuckles, sipping at his coffee. 

“They’re a something,” Tony says vaguely, eyes back on his phone as it beeps again.

_'just need half an hour.'_

Well, that’s better than he hoped for, actually. Steve acknowledging he needs a break and having thirty minutes to himself rather than getting to the point of total meltdown and running away. As such, Tony doesn't hesitate to text him back.

_'Yep'_

A second beep draws his attention; this one comes from Arto. Tony looks around to see him kneeling up over the back of the couch again, looking uncertain. He’s got a smudge of what looks like jam on his chin, and a grubby grey mark smack bang in the middle of his forehead. Tony is pretty sure the former is a souvenir from breakfast time, though has no idea what the latter is or where it came from.  

“Steve?” Arto asks, doubtful and uncertain.

“Went to talk to Bucky on the phone,” Tony says, waving his own phone at Arto. “He’s still in the tower.”

Arto nods, and sinks back onto the couch, facing the television. Tony watches him for a moment, waiting to check there’s not going to be a delayed reaction to Steve’s absence in the form of screaming or breaking things. Arto’s actually done a pretty good job of proving the specs on the Starkpads, what with how he seems to like to throw them around when he’s mad.

“He trusts you,” Sue says softly. “What you say.”

“Guess he does,” Tony shrugs. “So, come on Sue, give me all the tricks of the trade, what do I have to do to be a successful adult in this situation?”

Sue shakes her head at him, though her mouth is quirked in a fond smile. “How long have we got?”

“As long as you can give me,” Tony says. “Come on. I need to have all this under control by the time Fury sticks his eyepatch back in.”

“Fury’s involved?” Bruce asks.

“Oh yeah. He kind of found out what we’d done, and insisted that we hand him over,” Tony says, flapping a hand dismissively. “Steve said no, Fury said yes, an argument occurred and Bucky shot the coffee pot and threw Fury out.”

“ _Bucky_ threw Fury out?”

“He _shot_ the coffee pot?”

Sue and Bruce are both staring at him, Bruce looking resigned and Sue looking dismayed.

“Yeah, it was a little overboard I’ll admit, but what else are you meant to do when Steve and Fury are in full alpha male mode at each other? Short of shooting _them_ , I don’t think a lot else could have got them to stop.”

Sue presses her fingers to her mouth, looking pained. “I think rule number one is going to have to be no weapons in the building.”

“That’s what I said,” Tony says emphatically, and he stands up and walks over to the fridge, realizing that even though he’s fed both Arto and Steve this morning, he’s completely forgot to feed himself. “Look, we’re going to have to tone it down, I know that. That’s not an issue, we can all make adjustments to what we do, we can put a leash on Barnes, I just don’t know the rest of it.”

“Okay,” Sue says, understanding. “It’s not overly complicated. Love, boundaries and routines.”

“Routines?”

“Yes,” Sue says. “Wake up time, breakfast time, lunchtime, bath-time, bedtime-”

Tony leans back out of the fridge and frowns at her. “That’s a lot of times.”

“Yes, and children need them.”

“At the same time every day?”

“Yes,” Sue says, with a laugh. “That’s why it’s called a routine, Tony. He’ll settle so much better once there is some sort of routine.”

“I guess it helps with feeling secure,” Bruce says, and Sue nods.

“Okay, I get that,” Tony says. He grabs a pot of yogurt and digs through until he finds some blueberries. “How are we meant to do that though? We’re not exactly a routine-oriented bunch, what with the full time superheroing gig.”

“We’re not that bad anymore,” Bruce says. “I mean, the last call we had where we all had to go was the call to go and get him in the first place. And then you didn’t take everyone anyway.”

“I’m gonna have to get everyone on board with this,” Tony says, almost to himself more than the others. “We need to have one person here with him at all times to enforce the routine, someone who can hold him-”

“Steve, Bucky or Thor,” Bruce says, and then pauses. “Or you in the suit.”

“Or me in the suit,” Tony acknowledges, because it would be a lie to say it hadn’t crossed his mind that day when Arto had demolished the guest room, but he hadn’t because Arto had never seen the suit and he was terrified that if Arto tried to kick or headbutt the suit it would just hurt him more. “I’m not sold on that as a plan, though.”

“Why not?” Sue asks.

“He’s never seen Iron Man,” Tony says, popping a blueberry into his mouth. “I can’t imagine it would be all that comforting for a child in emotional distress. And the damage it can do-”

“What would be more distressing for him, having Iron Man step in to keep him safe, or calming down only to realize he’s hurt someone?” Bruce says pointedly, and ah yes, there's a good reason that that thought has occurred to Bruce. “It’s still you in the suit, and he knows you. Keep the helmet off, make sure he knows you’re not doing it to hurt him.”

“You said yourself that he respects Steve because he’s strong,” Sue ventures. “Is there any reason he wouldn’t feel the same about you and the suit?”

“Okay, okay,” Tony says. “Iron Man goes on the yes list. But he needs to see the suit first, be okay with the idea before it comes to the point I have to step in.” He pauses, turning his phone over and over in his fingers. “And I need to clear it with Steve.”

Sue nods. “So that’s four of you that are able to - to handle him,” she says. She still seems unsure about the concept of having to handle Arto, but Tony gets that she’s only met him whilst he’s been unconscious or being only mildly difficult.

“If Thor is on board,” Tony says.

“Thor would be here permanently in a heartbeat if you needed him,” Bruce says. “He might even be able to call on some help, too.”

“The warriors,” Tony says contemplatively. “Possible. But it’s got to be people that Arto likes or he’s just going to end up kicking off more. He only barely likes Bucky at the moment.”

“Well, if he likes Clint then he’s going to have to learn to like Bucky as well,” Bruce says. “And I can’t imagine Steve being happy with Arto not liking Bucky, either.”

“He’ll get there,” Tony says. “As long as Bucky tones down the surly attitude and stops scowling quite so much. Hey, Sue, what time should small children actually go to bed?”

“It depends,” Sue says, as usual completely at ease with Tony’s rapid changing of the subject. “Franklin goes at eight thirty.”

“And he’s what, seven?”

“Yes,” Sue says. “But bedtime routine starts at seven thirty. Bathtime, story and then sleep.”

“Stories?” Tony says, and whips out his phone, firing off a text to Clint.

_Books for an six year old, please._

“What works for Franklin might not work for Arto, though,” Sue points out, and Tony pauses and looks up from him phone. “I don’t even know if Arto will need the same amount of sleep as an average six year old, because of the serum. Steve doesn’t need that much sleep, does he?”

“Actually, Steve tends to sleep more than average when he can,” Bruce says, and Tony nods in confirmation.

“He can get away with not sleeping, but his metabolism and the way he burns energy means he has to catch up at some point,” Tony says. “He’ll be dead out for twelve hours if you let him. Normally goes for the good old fashioned six to eight hours like us lesser mortals. And he’s hell to wake up if he doesn’t want to get up.”

“Really?” Sue asks, looking surprised.

“Oh yeah. He has what I like to call Captain America wake up mode, where if he has to get up he can go from being very asleep to very awake very quickly and deals with it, and then he has Steve Rogers wake up mode. Where he doesn’t.”

Sue laughs. “Okay then,” she says. “Well, Arto might need eight hours then, he might need ten or twelve. Though he might want to nap in the daytime, too. I don’t know, you’ll just have to keep an eye on him and see how he goes. Be flexible, but once you’ve sort of got it cracked, stick to it.”

“So your advice is pretty much to stab blindly in the dark until something works and then stick with it?”

“Yes,” Sue says apologetically. “That is parenting, Tony. Welcome to the club.”

“How the hell does Reed do this? I mean, you’re you. I can get that.”

“He’s…sporadic,” Sue says. “Some days he’s on it, some days he’s in Reed-world. It’s tricky some days, when he is busy, but Ben and Johnny are always there.”

“You let Johnny Storm look after your children.”

“You let Clint Barton look after yours,” Sue responds pointedly.

“He’s not mine, he’s Steve’s,” Tony replies automatically. “Well. Technically, he’s Steve’s.”

“Well you and Steve do tend to come as a pair,” Bruce reminds him. “Does he know about you two?”

“Well, yeah,” he says. “He slept in our bed last night. Oh, and he did ask if we were married this morning.”

“He did _what?_ ”

“He asked if you and Steve were married? Tony, you need to straighten that out right away,” Sue says, sounding more serious than she has all morning. “Yes, you’re one big family here-”

“One big dysfunctional family-”

“Yes, I know that, but - It sounds like you’re all on board with helping to look after him which is great, but does he know who to identify as being - well, being his parents?”

“Well, no, because we haven’t worked out what to do in terms of back story,” Tony says. “I don’t know if we’re telling him that Steve- ” He stops, glancing over towards Arto, who is still engrossed in drawing on his tablet.

“He needs to know,” Sue insists. “He needs to have a clear picture of who everyone is to him. He needs to know where he belongs.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony says. “Steve is working it out. He said he’ll come up with a plan of action today, so we can get Phil on any necessary legalities and paperwork.”

Sue nods, appeased. “Don’t leave it too long,” she says.

“For his sake and to keep Fury off of your back,” Bruce points out, and Tony grimaces.

“Fury can go f-” he begins, but promptly cuts himself off at the sound of small footsteps padding across the floor towards them. Arto sidles over, shoving the tablet at Tony’s hands. Tony takes it and laughs as he sees a roughly drawn picture of a shark, complete with vicious looking teeth.

“Nice one,” he says, and leans back as Arto pulls at his shirt, clambering up onto his knee and then further still, until he’s sitting on the edge of the counter, his feet resting on Tony’s thighs. He takes the tablet back and carries on drawing, humming tunelessly.

“Is this a boundary moment?” Tony asks Sue. “Is there where I say normal people do not sit on the counter?”

“I think this is a pick your battles moment,” Sue says.

“So I should let him get away with sitting on the counter?”

“You should make sure you’ve got enough energy to enforce the boundaries that are utterly non-negotiable.”

“What is non-negotiable?”

“I don’t know,” Sue says. “It’s your call.”

Tony thinks for a moment. “Sleeping. Eating. Not throwing temper tantrums.”

“Okay, so by the sounds of it, sitting on the counter is not a worry right about now,” Sue says.

“Barton lets me,” Arto says without looking up, and Tony looks at him flatly, before looking at Sue. She just shrugs at him.

“And he’s evidently smart enough to work out how to get what he wants from different adults,” she says. “That ends pretty much never.”

“So I not only have to spell out the rules to this creature here, but to Barton as well,” Tony says, and Arto grins, digging his toes into Tony’s thighs. “Wonderful.”

“It does help if everyone is on the same page, yes,” Sue says, and her mouth curls in a smile as Arto slides off the counter into Tony’s lap, burying his face in Tony’s collarbones, just above the arc-reactor, curling up in a ball of pointed elbows and sharp knees. Tony doesn’t resist, just loops his arms around Arto and sets his chin gently atop his head.

“You’re doing great,” Sue says, and Tony looks up and meets her eyes. “Look, all this stuff about boundaries and routines is all well and good, but the most important thing is that he’s loved, and that he knows it. I think he already knows that he is.”

“Course he is,” Tony shrugs, because it’s true. He’s past caring how or why; he just knows he loves this bundle of miniature Steve and that is that. He doesn’t even think it’s just because Arto is Steve’s, either. The kid is proving himself to be smart and funny and frustrating and difficult and pretty fucking adorable, and Tony thinks that everyone would love him regardless of who he belongs to or where he came from.

Tony lets himself have a moment whilst Sue and Bruce talk. Arto is a warm comforting weight on his knee, despite the knee that is digging into his hip and the other one which is dangerously close to his crotch. Things are starting to feel more under control than they were, even though Sue has basically said that he’s just got to wing it-

Arto shifts, head knocking against Tony’s chin. Leaning back, Tony slides his hands over Arto’s shoulders, wincing as Arto kneels up, wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck.

“Steve,” he whispers.

“What, am I not good enough for your tastes?”

Arto grins into Tony’s neck. “No.”

“You wound me,” Tony replies. “I think I’m going to cry.”

“Don’t cry,” Arto says, leaning back, eyes darting over Tony’s face. He reaches out and pushes against Tony’s cheekbone with his fingers. “Don’t cry. You’re good.”

Tony smiles faintly. “Oh, I am good? That’s okay then.”

Arto smiles again. “Steve,” he repeats, and maybe they should introduce him to the concept of full sentences at some point.

“Yeah, okay,” Tony says, palm on Arto’s back. “You want to go find him? Jarvis, where is he?”

“In the gym, Sir.”

“Brilliant,” Tony says. “Off you go.”

“No,” Arto replies immediately, but there’s not much force behind it. It seems more of an automatic reaction than anything.

“Down the stairs, one floor,” Tony says. “You can do it, you took yourself up to him earlier.”

“Allowed?” Arto asks.

“Course you are. I am saying you can go and find Steve in the gym, so you can go find him in the gym. You’re allowed in there when Steve’s in there, it’s all good.”

“He let me in when I get there?”

“Yep,” Tony says, and hopes that it isn’t a lie. “Go for it. If you can’t, come back or ask Jarvis to help. Remember Jarvis?”

“Yes,” Arto says, and he’s sliding off Tony’s knee and heading for the stairwell.

“You introduced Jarvis?” Bruce asks.

“Yep,” Tony says,  as he watches Arto go, darting away and vanishing from sight. “He seemed entirely unimpressed, which I guess is better than him being terrified.”

“You’re lucky to have Jarvis,” Sue says, sounding a little wistful. “A second pair of eyes twenty-four seven?”

“If only he had hands, I’d be set for life,” Tony says, sliding his phone out of his pocket and setting it up on the counter. “Jarvis, throw me up a screen with a feed?”

“I do feel compelled to remind you that Captain Rogers firmly objects to you monitoring him,” Jarvis replies and Tony rolls his eyes, waving a dismissive hand over his shoulder.

“Yep, thanks for the memo, do it anyway,” Tony says, and Jarvis obliges. “So that’s smaller super soldier and larger super soldier both reasonably happy and not freaking out. I’m taking today as a win.”

“It’s barely eleven,” Bruce points out.

“Okay. So far it has been a win. If Steve lets Arto into the gym without a fuss and Barton makes it back without an incident, then can I call it?”

“Yes. Then you can call it.”

“Brilliant,” Tony claps his hands, glancing at the feed that’s being projected from his phone and then back up at Sue. “Now, Sue. Back to telling me how to avoid completely fucking up your children, please.”

Sue looks at him flatly for a moment, mouth slightly open and brow furrowed in a faint frown. “I, I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or not.”

“Let’s go with yes,” Tony says cheerfully, and sends her a winning smile before dropping his eyes back to the video feed. “Come on. Hit me with it. I’ve got one shot this being a parent gig, and I’m _not_ going to screw it up.”

 

* * *

 

“Steve.”

The voice is small and hesitant, and Steve immediately whips around as it reaches his ears over the sound of knuckles on canvas and the squeaking of chains. Arto is standing a way back, leaning against the padded post of the boxing ring, eyes fixed on Steve. He looks up at the clock and sees it’s been just over twenty minutes since he text Tony.

“Hey,” he says, stilling the punching bag with one hand. He pauses for a moment, unsure, and then calls out across the space between them. “You okay?”

Arto nods, looking around the gym with wide eyes. He’s got two of his fingers in his mouth again, chewing on them absently as he takes in his surroundings.

“How come you’re down here?” Steve asks, tuning fully to face him. “Where’s Tony?”

“In the kitchen. With B - Bruce and. And the lady. Said I could,” Arto begins. “Said I could find you.”

Arto still looks uncertain and his speech is halting and almost stuttering, so Steve steps away from the bag, walking over and crouching down in front of him. “Hey, it’s okay. Jarvis let you in?”

Arto nods, and reaches out with his free hand to wind his fingers into the material of Steve’s shirt, even as he looks up and around the room again.

“This for exercising,” he says, and points around the room.  He turns and looks at the boxing ring next to him, fingers touching the padding again. “In?” he asks, a question in his voice.

“You want to go in the ring?” Steve asks, unsure. He’s not sure it’s really...appropriate for Arto to be playing around in the gym, but he can’t latch onto any specific reasons as to why he shouldn't. It’s more just of a feeling really, but he is here to supervise and Arto has been pretty chilled out all morning and he doesn't want to set him off by refusing him. “I guess. Yeah, why not.”

Arto scrambles away from him and clambers gracelessly into the ring, crawling across the space on his hands and knees, the canvas thudding loudly as he goes. He gets into the center of the ring and laughs, banging his palms down on the mat and apparently enjoying the noise. “For fighting!”

Steve raises an eyebrow, shifts his weight around on his knees. He folds his arms and and leans on the edge of the ring, the top of his head just below the lowest rope. “Not for fighting.”

Arto pushes up onto his hands and feet, looking at Steve upside down through his legs. “Seen it,” he says. “For fighting.”

Steve watches him for a moment, contemplative. He looks down at his hands and starts pulling the wraps off, undoing them quickly and tossing them aside. “You know what I do? What my job is?”

“Superhero,” Arto replies promptly, and drops back onto his hands and knees, flinging himself sideways and rolling onto his back. He stretches his arms out above his head and keeps on rolling and rolling, until his hip bumps Steve’s forearms. Giggling, he looks up at Steve.

“You know what that means?”

Arto shakes his head, kicking his left leg up and hooking his ankle onto the lowest rope of the ring. He flexes his bare toes in the air, watching them intently.

“It means I protect people,” Steve says, and Arto pauses, looks up at him. “If people are in trouble anywhere, if anyone is trying to hurt people, I go and make sure they don’t get hurt.”

Arto’s fingers brush against his chin as he reaches out. “You don’t fight with people?”

“Only if I have to,” Steve says. “I only use my strength against people if they’re trying to use theirs to hurt other people more.”

Arto meets his eyes for a fraction of a second and nods. “You hurt the bad guys.”

“Only when they’re trying to hurt other people,” Steve reiterates. Arto unhooks his heel from the rope and lets his foot fall back to the mat with a bang. He rolls up over onto his knees and shuffles forwards until he’s right in front of Steve.

“Do you have to do exercises to practice?” he asks, reaching out and running both hands over Steve’s hair, before letting go and reaching up to hold onto the rope, rocking forwards on his knees.

Steve leans back marginally so Arto isn’t in danger of swaying right into his face. “Yes I do.”

“You have to be strong to go and hurt the bad guys,” Arto says, sounding oddly confident, like he’s got it all figured out and just wants Steve to confirm what he’s certain of.

Steve shakes his head, reaching out with both hands and catching Arto around his middle so he doesn’t sway forwards again. “I think you’ve got it backwards somewhere,” he says, and Arto lets go of the rope and slides his hands back into Steve’s hair. “Just because you’re strong doesn’t-”

“I can be strong,” Arto interrupts. “I can go hurt bad guys.”

Steve gives up. “Okay. But only if they’re trying to hurt you more,” he says, and Arto nods. He seems to view strength as a tool with which to hurt people, but that’s probably what he’s been told whilst under the supervision of Hydra scientists. Steve can only hope that he’s a good enough role model and does enough for Arto to understand right and wrong a little more clearly.

The thought catches in his chest, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. The idea of teaching Arto what’s okay and what is not...it’s terrifying, knowing that if he stands up as Arto’s father, he’ll be unarguably responsible for the way he turns out. But if Arto turns out great, then that’s something he can say he did. Something to be proud of.

“In,” Arto says, disturbing Steve’s tentative thoughts as he rolls over onto his knees again. He tugs at Steve’s forearm, trying to pull him closer. “Come in.”

Steve shakes his head. “No. Not practicing today.”

“Play instead,” Arto pleads, eyes wide and blue. “Come and play.”

Honestly, Steve wants to say no again, but he knows he shouldn’t. Bucky’s words about getting to know Arto are ringing in his mind, and he knows he’s already got away with bailing once today. He’s got to make an effort, if only to give Tony a breather for an hour, because he knows Tony is incredibly likely to run himself into the ground if allowed.

“Okay, okay,” he says, and Arto chirps excitedly and pulls harder at his wrist. “Let go - No, let go. Thanks, now move up.”

Arto complies and scrambles back, giving Steve space to duck into the ring. He’s barely in before Arto is on him, jumping onto his back and locking his arms around Steve’s neck.

“What are you doing?” he asks, sitting back on his heels and reaching up to hold onto Arto’s arms, careful not to grip too tight.

“Playing,” Arto replies. He leans forwards further and further, wriggling forwards along Steve’s back until his face is almost level with Steve’s. “Further,” he pants, and Steve shakes his head.

“You’ll go over.”

“Over! Tip me over,” Arto says excitedly, cheek brushing against Steve's own. Steve hesitates and then a part of him thinks _why the hell not?_

He decides to listen to it.

“Alright, alright, you ready?” he says shifting onto his knees and reaching back with a hand to steady Arto. Arto chirps again and Steve leans forwards and carefully rolls Arto over his shoulder, using his hand to control Arto’s decent onto the mat. Arto lands on his back and shouts with laughter, cheeks pink and eyes wide.

A small smile hitches the corner of Steve’s mouth. “Okay?”

“Again,” Arto demands, and he’s scrambling up and running around to stand behind Steve again. He lunges at Steve and this time Steve grabs him and rolls him over his shoulder without hesitation or warning, and Arto shrieks as he lands on his back again.

The sound drives a startling stab of panic through Steve’s chest, and for a moment all he’s thinking is _‘fuck, I’ve hurt him, fuck, shit-_ ’

Arto starts to laugh and Steve breathes out, shaking his head.

“Don’t scream like that,” he insists, trying to keep calm. “I thought I’d hurt you,” he says reproachfully, and Arto carries on laughing.

“You wouldn't hurt me,” Arto says, and he scrambles up, this time standing on Steve’s thighs and holding onto his shoulders. “Not even when you grab me.”

“When I grab you?” Steve repeats, holding onto Arto’s legs as he wobbles.

“When I get - when, when-” Arto begins, and then scrunches up his face. “Angry?”

The simple words hit Steve like a blow to the head. Arto had hesitated, and he said the word like it was a question, something strange and unknown. He literally _doesn’t know how_ to describe what he’s feeling, what happens when he loses control. And despite all that, he seems to have complete faith that Steve would never hurt him. “When you’re angry, and I have to hold onto you,” he says, and Arto nods.

“You wouldn't hurt me,” he says, and he leans heavily into Steve, lounging over one of his shoulders. “Bucky did.”

“He did?” Steve asks, and then remembers the vent incident and winces. “He didn’t mean to. You hurt Clint pretty bad too.”

“Didn’t mean to,” Arto echoes.

“And Bucky didn't mean to hurt you either,” Steve says. “Bucky is my best friend in the world, you know that?”

“Clint?”

“Bucky and Clint,” Steve concedes. “But Bucky has been my friend since I was your age. I'd be pretty sad if you didn’t get on with Bucky.”

Arto hums, wrapping his arms around Steve’s neck. In that moment, everything feels almost okay, simple and easy. Steve is still somewhat taken aback by Arto’s words, and it’s terrifying and humbling to have this small child in his arms who trusts him so much. He even trusts Steve isn’t going to hurt him even when he’s practically _fighting_ with him, and Steve still doesn't know what he’s done to deserve it.

He hesitates, then wraps his arms around Arto’s middle, hugging him gently and turning his face into short blond hair. Arto hums happily and turns his face so he’s talking right in Steve's ear.

“P - Pick me up.”

“How can I?” Steve asks, easing back. “You’re on my knee.”

“Pick me up,” Arto repeats.

Steve tightens his grip on Arto’s legs just above his knees and lifts Arto up vertically. Arto shouts with laughter, loosening his grip on Steve to put his hands on Steve’s head.

“What, like this?”

“No, no,” Arto laughs. “Doing it wrong!”

“Okay,” Steve concedes, and lowers Arto down again so he’s standing back on his thighs. Arto jumps at him and the move is quick and unexpected; that combined with the knee that hits Steve straight in his solar plexus sends him onto his back on the mat with an ‘ooft.’

“Careful,” Steve warns and tries to shift Arto off of his ribs. “Ouch,” he grunts. “You have _sharp_ knees.”

“Don’t,” Arto laughs. “Lift me up.”

“How can I possibly lift you up when you’re sat on my chest?”

Arto rolls off him and shifts around to sit next to Steve’s feet. Steve bends his knees up and Arto lunges forwards over the slant of his legs.

“I’m not a jungle gym, you know.”

“What’s a jungle gym?”

“A thing for climbing on.”

Arto pauses, looks at him. “You are a jungle gym.”

“I’m really not,” Steve says and he takes hold of Arto’s hands as he reaches out for him. Arto’s fingers lock through his, and Steve is suddenly reminded of a moment when he was younger, play fighting with Bucky when they were both around ten and Bucky had been pulling Steve over him and insisting _“this will work, Steve, it will work-”_ and Steve was threatening Bucky with bodily harm _“if you don’t put me down, Bucky, I swear-”_ and Bucky was just saying _“come on, you’ll be like superman-”_

“Hey, you still want picking up?”

Arto looks at him, surprised for a moment before replying with a definite and eager “yes.”

“Okay,” Steve says, and he shifts his legs, puts his feet flat on Arto’s stomach. Arto goes to pull back, but Steve keeps hold of his fingers.

“You’re fine,” he says. “Lean forwards a bit. And now, jump.”

Arto jumps and Steve lifts him up with his feet so he’s horizontal in the air, holding tightly onto his hands. Arto shouts with delighted laughter, slumping forwards and nearly sliding head first into Steve.

“I got you,” Steve reassures him, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Straighten your arms, kick your feet out.”

Laughing uncontrollably, Arto does as Steve says, and wow he’s a lot more biddable than Steve had been when Bucky pulled this stunt on him all those years ago. He straightens his body, showing an impressive amount of core strength as he does.

“Flying,” Arto crows, fingers clinging tightly onto Steve’s.

“Tony can fly,” Steve tells him, bending his elbows and knees and lowering Arto back down towards him and the safety of the mat. To Steve he weighs barely anything, feeling horribly light and breakable despite the fact he is anything but.

“No he can’t,” Arto gasps. “Up.”

“He can,” Steve says and obliges, straightening his legs and arms again. Arto laughs and laughs, grinning down at Steve and looking like he’s having the time of his life-

“Captain Rogers,” Jarvis’s voice floods the gym, as calm as ever. “Agents Barton and Barnes have returned to the tower and are requesting your presence on the communal floor.”

“Okay, got it,” Steve says, and he lowers Arto back to the canvas.

“No, no, no,” Arto whines, clinging to Steve’s hands, smile replaced with a disgruntled expression. “Up again, lift me up.”

“Not now,” Steve says, and sits up. “Come on, they’ve got some things for you.”

Arto stops whining and blinks at him. “For me?”

“Yeah, some new clothes and toys.”

Arto sits back, eyes going almost impossibly wide. “Toys?” he asks, sounding uncertain. “But-”

He doesn't finish the sentence. Instead, he scrambles forwards into Steve’s lap, hiding his face in his chest and curling up as small as he can, head nearly touching his knees and elbows clamped tightly into his sides.

“Whoa,” Steve says, confused. “Arto-”

Arto shakes his head, still hiding his face, and Steve has got no idea why he’s suddenly hiding again when he was perfectly fine ten seconds ago. “Come on,” Steve says cautiously, and tries to shift him round. “Lets go see what Clint’s got for you. Out the ring, buddy.”

Instead of getting up, Arto responds by grabbing hold of Steve’s shirt and clenching his fingers into it. Looking skyward for a moment to keep his composure, Steve glances back down and debates prising Arto’s fingers from his shirt.

Arto shudders against him, and Steve suddenly opts against it. This isn’t about him. He breathes out slowly, and even though he’s still confused and uncertain and starting to worry that he’s done something to mess it all up, he just pulls Arto close and gently runs a hand over his head.

“Gotta let go of my shirt so we can go find the others,” he murmurs. “Come on, work with me here. I’m coming with you, I’m not going to send you by yourself.”

Arto turns his head to the side, one blue eye just visible and blinking hard “With you,” he says, sounding as insistent as he had the night before.

“I said I’m coming with you,” Steve reiterates, and that does get a move out of Arto. He nods and leans back, just enough for Steve to extricate himself from his clinging grip. Arto doesn’t move, so Steve opts for sliding out of the ring first. it works; Arto immediately follows, slipping straight out of the ring after Steve.

“Come on,” Steve says, and Arto darts over and stands impossibly close to his side, following as Steve walks out of the gym and heads up to the communal floor. They’re about to leave the stairwell when Arto reaches out for him; Steve only slows momentarily and scoops Arto up without breaking stride, setting him on his hip as they walk into the room.

Sue is nowhere to be seen; presumably she’s left for home and to get back to her own children.  Bruce is still at the counter and has been joined by Bucky who is lazily leaning back in a chair with a mug of coffee in hand, clearly avoiding disturbing any of the papers that Bruce has spread out in front of him. Clint and Tony are over beside the couches, delving through what Steve can only assume are the purchases from Clint and Bucky’s shopping trip. Clint is leaning back against the front of one of the couches, busying himself with a pile of what looks like shoe boxes, and Tony is moving bags from the table to the floor, checking each one as he does.

“How much lego did you feel was necessary?” Tony is saying impatiently. “Jesus, Barton-”

“Hey,” Steve says, nodding over at Bucky and Bruce before walking over to the couches. Wow. That is a lot of stuff. He can barely see the coffee table under the multitude of bags and boxes, and there seems to be a heap of child sizes clothes steadily spreading out across the floor as well. “Did it go okay?”

Clint and Tony both look up, Tony’s mouth hitching in a smile. Arto grins back at him and reaches out; Steve swings him around to sit on the back of the couch, standing just behind him so he can’t fall backwards.

“I dont know, I need this to give the verdict,” Tony says, craning his head up to look at Arto. Arto grins again, jamming his fingers into his mouth and slithering forwards, landing on the couch next to Tony with a soft thwump. “Hey, nice of you to join me. This stuff hereby belongs to you, Smart Art. Wanna look?”

Arto shakes his head and makes a distinct noise around the fingers still in his mouth, leaning into Tony’s side.

“What?” Tony asks, surprised. “Seriously, it’s yours. Go nuts.”

Arto shakes his head again, and Tony looks up at Steve, the  question clear on his face. Steve just shrugs, because he doesn't know either-

“Kids who aren’t used to presents sometimes find getting presents the suckiest thing on earth,” Clint chips in casually. He’s got a pair of tiny purple converse trainers in his hand, pulling out the laces, and he’s pointedly not looking at anyone. Steve glances at Bucky, who is looking at Clint with an expression on his face which tells Steve he’d quite like to go and break something.

“Okay,” Tony says instantly. “Okay, stuff can wait, right? You look when you’re ready. Barton, give me back my visa.”

“Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?” Clint asks flatly, leaning back and shoving his hand into his pocket to retrieve the card, flicking it over to land in Tony’s lap.

“I can’t believe that sentence even made it out of your mouth,” Tony replies, and Bucky snorts with laughter.

Steve shakes his head and pushes away from the back of the couch, heading over towards the kitchen. He claps Bucky on the shoulder as he goes, and Bucky merely gives him a thumbs up, a silent ‘ _thank you’_ and ‘ _you’re welcome_.’

“Coffee, please,” Tony calls as soon as Steve’s fingers touch the coffee pot. Steve rolls his eyes, but does reach for a second mug, even though he’s sure that Tony has probably had way too much caffeine today anyway. Behind him, Bucky asks Bruce something about the papers that are spread out everywhere, and he can hear Arto talking to Clint, voice stumbling and halting as it usually does-

“Hey,” a voice says, and warm hands slide into Steve’s waist. He feels Tony press his mouth to the back of his shoulder and then exhale heavily, warm breath seeping through his shirt to heat his skin.  He pulls back a moment later to say, “I saw you, you know.”

Steve’s hands falter. “Saw me when?”

“In the gym,” Tony replies, completely unapologetic. Steve’s first reaction is annoyance, because he _hates_ Tony using Jarvis to watch him at the best of times, but he’s more unsure as to how he feels about Tony specifically watching him and Arto playing together. He knows he didn't do anything wrong, but he’s still hyper aware of being judged by everyone, even Tony. Unsure how to verbalize his feelings about it, he decides to address the most pressing issue first, the one that he has a _very_ clear opinion on.

“Stop spying on me.”

“Monitoring, Steve. I wasn’t spying on you, I was monitoring the small child.”

“Fury doesn’t buy it when you call it monitoring, and I’m not going to either,” Steve says, and Tony laughs, kissing the back of Steve’s shoulder, hand sliding around and tracing small circles on Steve’s stomach. He seems utterly unrepentant, but Steve wouldn't really expect anything less. He just tells himself that Tony was doing it for Arto, and that makes it easier to let it go.

“Did Clint get everything?”

“As far as I can tell,” Tony says, and he steps back and leans against the counter, folding his arms. “Including a ridiculous amount of legos.”

Steve nods, finishing making the coffee and then turning around to stand hip to hip with Tony, passing a mug over. His eyes automatically go to Arto, who is now leaning forwards and looking at a small box Clint is showing him. Clint murmurs something as he pulls open one of the tabs and Arto reaches out, small fingers tentatively helping pull at the cardboard.

“If he builds a model of the statue of liberty out of all the legos, we’ll know he’s yours,” Tony says, and Bucky chokes with laughter on a mouthful of coffee. Steve scowls at Tony, and reaches out to shove at Bucky who is still sniggering, palm flat against the metal plate on the back of his shoulder.

“You can shut up - wait a minute,” Steve says, suddenly remembering the phone call from earlier. “What was it you found you wouldn’t tell me about?”

“Oh yeah!” Bucky says, straightening up in his seat. “Barton, find the thing.”

“You got the thing, you find the thing,” Clint calls back, preoccupied with pulling pieces of lego out of a box and dropping them into Arto’s cupped hands.

“I think you’ll find I got the thing,” Tony interjects.

“Not this thing,” Bucky says, and slides off his stool. “SHIELD do give me money for occasionally blowing up stuff, you know.”

Stymied and a little wary, Steve watches as Bucky pads over to the couches, stepping easily over Clint and rooting around for a moment before pulling out a single carrier bag. He turns on the spot and crouches down next to Clint, who is still leaning up on the couch next to Arto, sprawled out and propped up on an elbow.

Arto looks at him warily, but doesn't move away or respond at all as Bucky quietly says something to him.

“Someone call SHIELD,” Tony mutters, leaning into Steve’s side. “Barnes has a soul.”

Steve elbows him, hard. “Shut up,” he breathes back, because Bucky is still quietly talking to Arto, and then holds out the carrier bag to him. Arto leans back marginally, then looks up at Clint with wide eyes. Clint takes the bag from Bucky, who straightens up and walks away towards the windows, scratching the back of his head.

“I’m giving him his gun back,” Tony replies in an undertone. “This is - this is against the natural order. Steve, tell him to go out and do something murdery-”

“Will you shut up,” Steve hisses, because Clint is whispering something to Arto and he can’t hear what it is. He doesn’t miss the way Arto looks over at Bucky though, and then turns to look at Steve. Steve nods at him, and Arto reaches out and takes the carrier bag from Clint, holding it protectively to his chest in both hands. He glances around the room again and then shoves his hand into the bag, pulling out a teddy bear wearing a blue coat with red buttons, and a black domino mask around its eyes.

Steve’s stomach flips, and he has to bite his lip to stop himself laughing out loud, because he’s pretty sure Bucky would deck him if he did. “You hated it when they first started making those,” Steve calls over to Bucky, and Bucky just gives him the finger without looking around or turning away from the window.

“I think I need to object,” Tony says, lips twitching as he also fights back a smile, eyes fixed firmly on Arto. “That Bucky Bear has both arms.”

“Winter Soldier Bear doesn’t have the same ring to it,” Clint calls, amused. Arto is still staring down at the bear, fingers tracing around the domino mask.

When he looks up, it’s to find Steve. “Mine?” he asks, uncertain.

Steve nods. “From Bucky.”

“I get - I get to keep him?” Arto asks tentatively, and Steve feels a churning of something uneasy and unpleasant in the pit of his stomach because that look is the look of a child who has never had _anything_ to call his own before now, not even a damn teddy bear.

“Of course you do,” he says, and he feels Tony’s arm slide behind him, fingers brushing the back of his neck.

Arto’s face breaks into a smile, nose scrunching up. He scrambles off the couch, nearly kicking Clint in the face as he does and scattering lego pieces everywhere. Running over to Steve, he shoves past the chair Bruce is on and jumps up at him. Steve is just about quick enough to catch him under his arms, hefting him up and swinging him onto the counter between him and Tony 

“Mine,” he says, and holds up the bear in Steve’s face. “Stays with me.”

Steve nods and gently but firmly pushes the toy away from his face so he can see. “You need to say thank you to Bucky,” he says.

“No,” Arto replies, shaking his head and clutching the bear to him. “Mine.”

“Yeah, we need to work on manners,” Tony begins, shrugging as Bruce turns in his chair to look at Arto. “If someone buys you something awesome-”

His words are cut off by a soft yet insistent chiming sound, three short beeps followed by a longer ring. The sound repeats itself over and over, easily identifiable as SHIELD’s emergency line. Tony and Steve both glance at each other, and Steve feels foreboding creeping into the pit of his stomach, heavy and tight.

“Iron Man acknowledging,” Tony calls warily, and the ringing stops.

“Requesting Captain Rogers,” Nick Fury’s voice comes through the speakers, loud and commanding.

“Captain Rogers acknowledging,” Steve calls back. Arto shifts next to him, reaching out and trying to pull at Steve’s ear. Distracted, Steve grabs his wrist, keeping the grasping fingers away. “What is it?”

“Active Hydra cell no longer contained in Bucharest. I need you, Widow and Barnes.”

The bottom drops completely out of Steve’s stomach, and for one moment he feels utterly frozen, because this is possibly the worst timing for a SHIELD callout _ever_. Dammit, he’d all but forgotten about what Natasha said about the cell in Bucharest; he’d been so busy with Arto that he’d neglected to even check in with the intel after the last Hydra raid.

“ _Shit_ ,” he says without thinking, and turns to look at Tony, letting go of Arto’s hand. He opens his mouth, fights against both his pride and the panic. He swallows, dropping his voice low so only Tony can hear him. “What do I do?”

Tony looks at him for a long moment, thinking hard. “How serious is it?” he finally says, voice projected so the speakers can pick it up.

“Serious enough that I’ve already dispatched a jet,” Fury says. “Agent Coulson is leading the team. He’ll pick you up from the roof in fifteen minutes.”

Steve bites back another curse. “Just, give me a minute,” he says, and turns to look at Tony. “I can’t not go,” he says in a low voice, and Tony stares at him, eyes flicking back and forth between Steve’s own. He breathes out heavily and then nods, reaching up to rub his brow.

“Fine. Fine, okay. You gotta go,” he concedes, though doesn't exactly sound happy about it. “But you can’t take Barnes with you. I need someone here just incase-”

“I thought you said you would be able to use the suit,” Bruce says quietly.

“What?” Steve says, feeling a little blindsided, turning to look at Bruce so quickly his neck clicks. “The suit-?”

“Not until we’ve talked about it, and not until he’s met Iron Man in a slightly less stressful situation,” Tony says, glaring half heartedly at Bruce who holds his hands up in a gesture that could be surrender or an apology. “And we haven’t talked about it, so no.”

“What seems to be the problem, Captain?” Fury says, sounding completely neutral and not nearly as impatient as Steve would have expected. “I need an answer on this.”

“Just _wait_ ,” Steve replies, thinking hard. “Tony, where’s Thor?”

“Off world again,” Tony says. “Damn, I’ve not had a chance to speak to him yet.”

“Great,” Steve breathes out. He belatedly looks at Arto, who is just sitting on the edge of the counter with Bucky Bear in his hand and his other fingers in his mouth, watching Steve with careful eyes. Steve needs to go on this mission, he can’t just let Hydra start gaining ground on his watch, but he’s needed here as well-

Steve bites off a curse, frowning as he thinks. His thoughts are temporarily derailed as he looks up to speak and sees what appears to be a hurried conversation being held between Clint and Bucky, made mostly of overly complicated gestures, pieces of sign language and meaningful looks. Apparently reaching some sort of conclusion, they simultaneously nod and turn to Steve, both of them pointing at Clint.

Steve understands immediately, and the panic slowly fades away as the solution coalesces. “Sir, requesting permission to replace Agent Barnes with Hawkeye,” Steve says slowly and clearly, eyes still on Bucky.

“Explain why I should.”

There’s a silence, and then Steve decides that being honest is his best bet. “We need someone who is strong enough to hold Arto to stay behind,” he says, reaching up and rubbing his forehead. “At the moment that is me or Bucky. We can’t both leave.”

Fury’s voice is somewhere between incredulous and surprised when he responds. “You named him?”

“Are we really discussing this now?” Steve snaps. “Permission to replace Agent Barnes with Hawkeye, Sir.”

There’s a pause. “Granted,” Fury says. “I will call Agent Coulson, and I will give you thirty minutes before extraction, Captain.”

The connection is cut. Steve slumps back against the counter, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He’s about to look up and say something to Bucky and Clint - an apology, a thank you, he doesn't know, but before he can work out what to say he feels a small body lean against his shoulder.

“Are there bad guys?” Arto whispers, sounding uncertain.

“Yeah,” Steve replies, tensing up and praying that Arto doesn’t flip out too badly. “I have to go and make sure no-one gets hurt.”

Arto stares at him for a moment, blue eyes full of something that Steve doesn’t quite get, and then he nods, slowly moving to wrap his arms around Steve.

“Come back?” he whispers, the question obvious.

Steve meets Tony’s eyes over the top of Arto’s head, returning the hug and holding Arto close. “Yeah, I will,” he says, feeling disconcerted and like he’s not entirely sure what’s playing out here. “You stay here with Tony, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

To his utter shock, Arto just nods and lets him go, sliding back onto the counter and looking to Tony. Tony holds out an arm and Arto goes willingly, tumbling into his front and clinging to him.

“Skrull?” Tony mouths at Steve, looking as perplexed as Steve feels. He twists around, checking his hip against the counter so Arto can bury himself against his front more effectively.

“You are not funny,” Steve replies shortly, shoves his fingers through his hair. “ _Damnit_.”

“Steve, it’s okay,” Tony says suddenly, the words as resolute as they are unexpected. “You’ve got to go. He’s okay with it, look.”

“But-”

“Steve. Go suit up, kick Hydra ass and then get back here,” Tony says firmly. “Preferably within twenty four hours.”

“Bucharest, not gonna be quick,” Steve says, eyes flickering over Tony’s face. Tony’s mouth curves in a weak smile and Steve aches to touch for a moment before remembering that he can. He leans in and kisses Tony hard, a hand on the back of his neck. Pulling back, he knocks their foreheads together, shutting his eyes for a long moment.

“Don’t you dare get shot,” Tony says, and Steve huffs out a laugh. “Go suit up.”

Steve nods. He kisses the corner of Tony’s mouth gently, steps back to look down at Arto who is leaning against Tony’s chest and watching them with careful eyes.

“Barton, you bring him back in one goddamn piece,” Tony calls over, eyes still locked on Steve’s.

“Only if Rogers brings back Barton in one goddamn piece,” Bucky retorts, and Tony raises an eyebrow at Steve, who just sighs and shakes his head.

“Stay safe,” he says, and reaches out to gently run his palm over Arto’s head. Arto catches his fingers and holds on for a moment.

“Stay safe,” he echoes, and Steve nods.

“You got it,” he says, and then gently pulls his hands free and leaves the room.

 

* * *

 

The sound of the quinjet is audible even through the glass, a dull thudding and whining, a faint rumble of engines. Tony stands inside, Arto standing in front of him and  leaning back against his legs. He’s got one arm wrapped around that damn bear that Barnes bought him, and is gnawing worriedly on the fingers of his free hand, eyes fixed on the jet that’s parked on the roof. 

Bucky is leaning against the doorjamb behind them, arms folded and expression contemplative. He’s ready to step in if Arto decides he’s actually not happy with Steve leaving, but so far Arto has been perfectly biddable, though a little quiet.

Tony folds his arms over his chest, breathing out heavily, eyes fixed on Steve. He’s standing next to the jet, suited up and with his shield in hand. Coulson is talking to him and Clint, gesturing towards the jet. Clint is nodding and climbing into the jet without looking back, sitting down next to Natasha who is just visible, red hair standing out against the dark metal.

Tony feels a lump in his throat as Steve claps Coulson on the shoulder and steps towards the jet. He grabs the edge of the doorway and then turns, eyes meeting Tony’s. He stays perfectly still for a moment and then salutes; Tony shakes his head at him but does shoot him a quick thumbs up in return.

Steve turns and ducks into the jet, and Arto makes a high pitched whining sound, half turning and tugging at Tony’s jeans with spit-covered fingers.

“Coming back for me,” he demands. Behind them, Tony hears Bucky shift a step closer.

“He’s coming back for both of us,” Tony says simply, though as the jet shifts and sways on the landing pad and the noise gets louder, it does feel like he’s being punched right in the arc-reactor. “He always does.”

“Always does,” Arto echoes, and Tony looks down at him, chest still aching as he meets the fiercely determined expression of Steve Rogers, reflected so clearly in that small face.

“Always does,” Tony says again, and Steve has left countless times before to go on missions, but this time feels different and he’s not sure why. “Now wave, he’ll be watching you.”

Arto turns back around. He hesitates for a moment and then lifts his free hand in a rushed wave, the motion choppy and unsure. He leans back against Tony’s legs more heavily, dropping his hand to clutch at the stuffed toy with both.

“Coming back,” he says again, and he and Tony watch the jet lift away from the rooftop, soaring away into the distance and out of sight.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did put a note at the beginning saying that it's important to understand that the Avengers do not necessarily know how to deal with Arto and his needs. They do their best but they are not getting it right straight away. That is particularly important in this chapter. (Further notes regarding this are at the end of the chapter, as to avoid spoilers.)

 “Smart Art?”

Looking up from his tablet, Tony reaches across the wide expanse of the bed to carefully sift his fingers through Arto’s hair. Arto doesn’t even move or even acknowledge that Tony has spoken; he stays exactly as he has been for the past hour, curled up on his side with his head on Steve’s pillow, eyes open and blinking slowly. Bucky Bear is on the pillow next to him, and he’s holding onto one of its legs, fingers curled tightly around the soft fur. He’s still in his Captain America pajamas, and he looks very small curled up on the deep blue sheets.

“You doing okay?” Tony presses, dragging his knuckles gently over Arto’s cheek. This time Arto nods slowly, not looking up. Though he’s relieved that he’s managed to get a response, Tony sighs, because he knows Arto is far from okay and he doesn’t know what to do about it. He hates how distant Arto is being, how far away he seems. He knows it’s just because Arto wants Steve, and the fact that this is something he can’t fix sits heavy and twisting in his chest.

Steve has been gone for barely two hours and it’s not just Arto feeling it; Tony feels his absence like the usual peculiar hollowness in his chest, but this time it’s so much tighter, heavier.

He’s never seen Steve as vulnerable as he is right now, and even though he’s physically as fit and strong as he ever has been, he still feels uneasy about the call to let him go off leading a counter-attack against Hydra. Tony should have been the one to go; he could easily have stepped in and taken Steve’s place. However, he knows that if he’d even suggested it Steve would have instantly had a fit of misplaced indignant-Captain-rage, because even though he trusts the team with his life, he still refuses to let anyone handle what he thinks is _his_ problem.

Tony smooths Arto’s hair back from his forehead, and wonders if it feels worse this time round because he can’t exactly get Steve off of his mind when he’s got a constant reminder of him right there. God, there really is no hope of ever convincing anyone that Arto isn’t Steve’s. It’s only by looking closely that Tony can see the differences which show that Arto isn’t actually a clone; the set of his eyes is slightly different even if the colour is the same, and his face is slightly rounder than Steve’s, though maybe that’s more to do with age.

“Sir, your cellphone,” Jarvis says, his soft voice breaking through into Tony’s thoughts. Tony blinks and looks around for his cell, but it’s nowhere to be seen.

“On the counter in the communal kitchen,” Jarvis informs him.

“I’ll get it later,” Tony says dismissively, and then frowns. “Why are you telling me this anyway? You normally patch it through the speakers if it’s something you think I’m not allowed to ignore."

“It’s Ms Potts, Sir,” Jarvis says apologetically, and the bottom drops out of Tony’s stomach. He looks over at Arto who is now watching him, fingers plucking restlessly at the corner of the pillow. “This is her third attempt to call you."

“Don’t suppose I can put that off?” Tony asks, forcing his voice light.

“She is being quite insistent,” Jarvis says. “And you were planning on calling her today.”

“Good intentions,” Tony mutters, and rubs his brow. He drums his fingers against his knee, restless, and then reaches out to pick up the tablet again.

“Who?” Arto asks, shuffling closer into Tony’s side, bringing Bucky Bear with him. Tony slides an arm around his shoulders, the familiar fierce, protective rush igniting like a spark within him.

“A friend,” he tells him. “One of my best friends in the whole entire world. She’s very beautiful and very clever, and probably very cross at me right now.”

Arto slides his eyes over the tablet, wary. For someone who spends an awful lot of time kicking up hell, he seems very avoidant of potential conflict.  “Cross at you?”

“Yes,” Tony says. “I was meant to get something done and I didn’t, so she’s probably calling to yell at me.”

In the back of his mind, he can hear Steve’s exasperated voice telling him that he doesn’t need to be so brutally honest with a six year old, and he distractedly wonders if Steve would actually say that, or if he’s just making assumptions. He tucks Arto safely into his side and Arto settles easily, clutching Bucky bear under one arm, and Tony angles the tablet so that Arto isn’t visible on the screen.

“Put her through.”

“Good luck,” Jarvis says, and then a video call opens on the tablet and Pepper appears, beautiful and annoyed. Tony doesn’t feel too guilty, though he probably should, because for once he’s not annoyed her just by being him, he’s annoyed her inadvertently because he was taking care of something – someone – who needed it more than Stark Industries needed him.

“You missed the deadline for the new screens,” she says without preamble. “You promised they would be with manufacturing by October, and that’s not going to happen-”

“Pepper,” he begins, ready to interrupt and explain, but she’s so used to him deflecting and not caring that she just carries on. It’s frustrating, but he can’t really blame her.

“- if you don’t stick to the deadline, which you set anyway-”

“Pepper.”

“And I’m the one who will have to explain to the board that the schedule has changed _again_ -”

“Pepper!” Tony shouts over her, because if she doesn’t stop soon then he’ll get sucked into arguing about the stupid board and the damn schedule and that is not a priority right now. “Life changing news alert.”

She freezes in place. “You better not be dying,” she begins, voice catching and panic starting to edge in. “Tony are you dying again?”

“No, I’m not dying!” Tony says hastily, glancing over at Arto whose eyes have just gone impossibly wide. “I’m fine,” he says to Arto. “She’s just being dramatic.”

“Who are you talking to?” Pepper demands. “If you are sick, or injured, or if you’ve-”

“Pepper,” Tony begins, but Arto is trembling, and his lip is wobbling and he’s starting to make a high pitched noise that doesn’t bode well for anyone.

“Tony, what is going on?” Pepper asks, and she looks somewhere between distressed and furious.

 “Oh, Jesus,” Tony says, torn. “Pepper, I’ll call you back-”

“Don’t you dare,” she snaps. “Jarvis, do not let him hang up on me.”

“No, no, no,” Arto says, the word rising in volume. His fists clench, and he looks around as if he’s either going to bolt or find something to throw-

Tony swipes his fingers across the screen of the tablet and cuts the call. He throws it aside and reaches for Arto, scooping his hands under his arms and hauling him right into his lap, half praying that Arto isn’t going to lash out because Bucky is down in the gym and will take at least sixty seconds to get up here if he’s needed. Arto makes a strangled screaming sound, but his hands grab Tony’s shirt and he clings on desperately, still making the distressed noise in the back of his throat.

“I am not dying,” Tony says into his hair, holding him close. “Arto I am fine. She saw me get hurt once, but I am fine, I promise you I’m not going anywhere.”

The words tumble from his mouth without permission, too easy and too clichéd and so _stupid_ , and a violently sharp twist of fear rears its ugly head, piercing Tony where he didn’t even know he was vulnerable. His heartbeat quickens, his stomach tightens and he has to draw a shuddering breath in, feeling like he’s been suckerpunched. Arto is so damn small in his arms, and what if something happens to Tony that means Arto won’t have him to rely on? Tony _needs_ to be here; Arto may like Steve more but Steve can’t do this by himself, and that’s such a weight to have on his shoulders, looking after both Steve and Arto-

Tony pulls himself together. With nothing more than sheer force of will, he sets his jaw and breathes in and out harshly, because it doesn’t fucking matter. His eyes are too warm and bright and he has to tilt his chin, look up at the ceiling for a few steadying moments, because he can’t let Arto see him like this, he’s got to be strong.

The tablet starts chiming again.

Tony ignores it. He screws his eyes shut, wishing violently that he’d never picked it up in the first place. “Hey,” he whispers, pressing his mouth to the top of Arto’s head. “Hey, Smart-Art.”

“No,” Arto replies tearfully. “Okay.”

“I am okay,” Tony assures him, strangely aware of how he’s managing to have a conversation with Arto even though Arto’s only speaking in single words. “Not going anywhere.”

“Promise,” Arto says, and he pulls back to glare up at Tony, tear tracks on his face. “Steve went.”

There’s a lump in Tony’s throat. “Yeah, he did,” he says. “He had to.”

“Coming back for me,” Arto says fiercely.

“Coming back for you,” Tony promises, shutting his eyes and pulling Arto in close again, a selfish impulse, because in that moment Arto is the closest thing to Steve, and Tony aches to have Steve back there with them.

Arto wriggles in his grip, small hands pressing against Tony’s collarbones as he pushes himself back. When he leans back far enough for Tony to see his face, his expression has completely changed. The frown and angry just of his lip has faded, into a look of uncertainty.

“You and Steve,” he says, and the frown deepens. “Not married.”

“No, not married,” Tony says, internally cautious about the fact Arto is bringing this up again and thinking maybe it’s more than just idle musings on Arto’s part. “Who taught you about marriage?”

“Eleanor,” Arto says, and he screws up his face. “You’re not married.”

“No,” Tony says, and he feels like there should be something else he says there, because Arto is obviously missing something that he needs to make sense of the dynamic between Steve and Tony. Part of him wonders what would happen if he were to mention the M word to Steve, but he’s pretty sure that Steve would hightail out of there before he could even finish the sentence-

“Want,” Arto begins, and looks down, shrinking a little. “Steve.”

“I know, buddy,” Tony says with a sigh, and sits back against the headboard, pulling Arto with him. Arto curls up against his side, slipping his fingers into his mouth and resting his cheek against Tony’s chest. Jesus, and Tony thought that they’d actually got a handle on this whole thing, and now Steve was gone and Arto was still hung up on-

The tablet starts up again, the sound soft but grating on Tony’s nerves.

Tony bites off the curse word at the last moment, a ‘fff,’ of sound between his teeth as he reaches over and picks it up. It’s Pepper again, and he knows that he’s going to have to talk to her sooner or later, and the longer he leaves it the more she’s going to worry and get wound up.

He rests the tablet against his knee, holding it up and once again angling it so that Arto won’t be visible when he answers. “Stay put, I’m just gonna talk to Pepper,” he tells Arto, who just nods, watching the tablet, eyes flicking rapidly back and forth. 

Tony swipes his thumb across the screen and Pepper appears, looking like she would throttle him if he could get her hands through the screen.

“What was that?!” she asks, and she looks hurt enough that Tony feels like a dick. “Who were you talking to? You start making sense or I’m calling Phil.”

“Don’t call Coulson,” Tony says, mildly annoyed with the threat. “Thought you were over getting him to play spy for you.”

“I was, but then you answer the phone with the words _‘life changing news’_ after missing a really important deadline,” Pepper says, and then exasperated comprehension crosses her face. “Oh hang on, is this the phone call?”

“What phone call?”

“The one where you finally admit that you’ve been sleeping with Steve for the past god knows how long?”

Tony winces, shutting one eye and hoping that Arto doesn’t know about sex yet. “Okay, let’s lead with that.”

“Let’s-” Pepper does an actual to god double take, blinking and rearing back. “Let’s lead with that? So it’s _true?_ ”

“Very true,” Tony says tiredly. “We’re a thing.”

“A thing?”

“Yeah, a thing,” Tony says. “A ‘he moved into the penthouse and he’s somehow my next of kin on all of Coulson’s paperwork’ thing.”

“You moved him into the _penthouse?_ ”

“Well, he arrived in it about six months ago and only leaves when we’re fighting, so I guess.”

Pepper stares at him. “You and Steve are in a relationship.”

“Pretty much,” Tony says. “Wow, the rest of this conversation is going to go really badly if that’s how you’re reacting so far.”

“The _rest?_ ”

Tony looks at her for a long moment, because this is it. This is the moment in which he tells Pepper, lets his friends outside of the Avengers know what’s happened. Even though he’s never entertained any intentions of giving Arto up, this still feels like a moment of no turning back. He trusts Pepper with his life, has done so literally in the past, but a tiny part of him still doesn’t want her to know. He thinks it’s more to do with protecting Arto though; if he could he’d hide him away from anything and everything, just to keep him safe and happy.

“Tony?”

In lieu of answering, Tony simply turns the tablet so she can see Arto, still curled into his side. The first one to react is Arto, who lets out a startled chirp, shrinking back. His eyes flicker over the screen and then he seems to notice the small square in the corner which shows their end of the video feed. He reaches out and waves his fingers in front of the screen, looking intently at himself.

“Us,” he says to Tony, and tugs on Tony’s wrist. “That’s us.”

Tony isn’t listening; he’s watching Pepper who is staring at them, mouth hanging open in shock.

“Please tell me someone has shrunk Steve,” she says faintly.

“Pepper, meet Arto. Arto, meet Pepper.”

Arto ducks his face into Tony’s side, peering back round at Pepper who is still looking utterly poleaxed.

“Pepper?” Tony says, gentle. “Pepper, breathe,” he says. “Look, I know this is a bit of a shock, okay, a lot of a shock-”

“Explain why you have a small child that looks like Steve,” Pepper breaks in quietly, eyes still on Arto and expression carefully still.

“Arto is biologically Steve’s,” Tony says, and then a voice in the back of his head is going _‘ah, shit,’_ because they’ve not actually explained this to Arto yet, and he doesn’t know what Steve had in mind as far as that goes. Oh well, Steve isn’t here so Tony is making the calls and he’s just going to have to deal with it.  “We found him in a lab in a Hydra facility and brought him home.”

Pepper lifts a hand, pressing her fingers against her forehead, mouth working as she tries and fails to find the words.

“Don’t freak out,” Tony says. Arto hums, slumping sideways across Tony’s knees and shoving at his arm. Tony lifts the hand holding the tablet and Arto wriggles across his lap, lying across his thighs with his head on Tony’s pillow and his face pressed against the side of his hip, curled around like a cat.

“He’s – he’s Steve’s?” Pepper says.

“Technically,” Tony says. “Stolen DNA.”

“He’s a _clone?_ ”

“Not quite,” Tony says, resting his palm on Arto’s side, absently stroking his fingers over the soft material. “Pep, please stop looking like that. And please don’t say any of the things that are currently going through your head while he’s here. Or at least censor it.”

“Stop looking like-?” Pepper beings. “Stop – Tony, I haven’t spoken to you for just over a _fortnight_ and I call to talk about deadlines and you’re saying you and Steve are somehow together and you’ve ended up with a _child_ , oh my _god_. Have – does SHIELD know? What about the others? ”

“It’s all under control-”

“You are _insane_ ,” Pepper all but shouts over him. “Tony, have you got any idea how crazy this is?”

“I’m an Avenger, crazy is the default setting.”

“Do not make jokes,” Pepper says heatedly. “This is not something you can joke about-”

“Give me some credit,” Tony says. “And please stop yelling in front of the small child.”

Pepper opens her mouth but visibly reigns herself in. She looks from Tony to Arto and back again. “Where’s Steve?” she asks. “Why have you-”

“Steve is on his way to Bucharest,” Tony says. “SHIELD asked for him to lead a mission.”

Pepper presses her lips together, obviously fighting back something she wants to say in response to that. “I’m coming to you,” she finally says. “I’ll come on the jet tonight.”

Tony shakes his head, because he’s got enough to be dealing with as it is. Arto takes priority right now, and he can’t have anyone around him that’s not going to understand that.

“I’m coming,” she says in a tone that brooks no argument. “This is something we need to talk about face to face.”

Tony tries arguing anyway. “We do not need to talk about it. It’s happened, and that’s that. He’s staying. This takes priority now. Over everything else.”

Pepper looks at him, hard. “And what happened the last time you fixated on something new and forgot about everything else that is in your life?” she bites out. “You do this, you claim you’re some great multi-tasker but when something appears that demands your attention you fixate and you let everything else-”

“I’m not going to apologise for that,” Tony interrupts, offhand. “And I think you’ll find I can. If I’ve been seeing Steve for this long without anyone noticing-”

“We did notice,” Pepper says. “And you fixated on him as well.”

Tony feels his jaw clench unconsciously, tension in his frame that he tries to shake off because Arto still draped across him and he can probably feel it.

“Well, if my fixating means that I end up in a relationship with Captain America, I’m most definitely not going to apologise for it,” Tony says flippantly.

“I’m not talking about this over a video call,” Pepper says, sounding weary all of a sudden. “I’m coming to see you.”

“Do not get on that jet if all you’re going to do is try to convince me to change my mind,” Tony says.

“Tony. You are sitting there with Steve Rogers’s child. I know there is absolutely no way of changing your mind,” Pepper replies quietly. “But I can at least try and help you work out how to do whatever it is you’re doing, without letting everything else fall apart around you.”

Tony looks down at that, because that’s just Pepper all over isn’t it? Out to give him hell, but only because she wants him to be happy and healthy and safe. His anger fades, leaving him feeling both grateful and oddly despondent. He appreciates her help, but he doesn’t want it to come in the form of her interfering and constantly reminding him about Stark Industries, because he _knows_ , he just doesn’t think it’s that important right now-

“If everything has to fall apart for him, I’ll let it,” he says, and it sounds horribly final.

Pepper just stares at him. “Do not let your feelings for Steve wreck everything you have that’s yours.”

The words hit Tony like a slap. “You think that this is what it’s about?” he says, challenging and furious. “You think the only way I could ever care about a kid is because he’s Steve’s? That I’m doing this for Steve?”

“You have been doing everything for Steve since you met the man,” Pepper replies. “You never would have even dreamt about kids unless-"

“Don’t finish that.”

“Tell me it’s not true.”

“You’re right, I think we should talk about this in person,” Tony interrupts. “Goodbye, Pepper.”

He hangs up on her without another word.

Trembling, he runs his spare hand over Arto’s shoulders, the warm body comforting beneath his palm. Her words still feel like knives jabbing at him, leaving him feeling angry and acidic. He hates that Pepper thinks that of him, that all he’s doing here is sacrificing everything for Steve because it’s _not_. It was him that wanted to keep Arto, him that stood up to Fury and demanded that he stayed, him that looked after Arto whilst Steve was getting his fucking act together. And he didn’t do it for Steve, or even for himself, he did it for this little mess of a child that needs someone to be there for him.

Tony tosses the tablet aside again, pressing his fingertips to his brow. Now Pepper knows about Arto and the whole situation, he feels horribly exposed. He thinks maybe he’s taken Steve for granted over the years, never really acknowledged how much support Steve actually gives him, even when he’s doing nothing more than standing here just behind him.

Fuck, that star-spangled asshole better hurry up and get home, already.

“Well, you’re in trouble.”

Tony jumps a mile at the sound of Bucky’s voice, heart leaping into his throat. Biting back another curse, he looks up to see Bucky standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb with a pizza box balanced on his metal hand. On top of the pizza box is a carton of juice and a beaker.

“I know you don’t listen to me pretty much ever, but can you not be an asshole right now?” Tony says, breathing out heavily. “Jesus. What right does she have-”

“The fact she runs your company?” Bucky says, making no effort to pretend he wasn’t listening in. Jesus. If anyone decided to ever steal DNA and make a child out of Steve and Nat, Bucky Barnes would be it.

“Not my personal life,” Tony snaps.

Bucky just shrugs. “I don’t really know her enough to say shit about it,” he says and steps forwards, holding out the pizza. “Thought you might be hungry.”

Tony stares at the box for a moment and then just gives up.  “Yeah,” he says. “Thanks.”

He reaches out and as he does Arto looks up, and his face shutters as he sees Bucky. “No,” he says, rolling away from Tony and burying his face in Steve’s pillows.

Tony grimaces, looking apologetically over at Bucky. “Sorry.”

“He don’t need to like me,” Bucky shrugs, leaning down and sliding the pizza box on top of the comforter. “Just needs to suck it up and deal with me.”

Tony looks tiredly over at Arto, who is still buried face down in the pillow. Should he make him apologise? Should he try and get Arto to understand that Bucky isn’t that bad? Or is this a moment where he picks his battles and lets it go for now?

He decides on option three, sitting cross legged atop the blankets and moving both the juice and beaker onto the dresser. Jesus, Arto’s stuff is already creeping steadily over the tower and he’s only had possessions for half a day. “Is this just what happens when you have kids?” he muses aloud. “Every inch of your personal space is taken over by them and their crap?”

“Well I know that’s what happens when you have a Barton,” Bucky says, folding his arms across his chest. His normal fingers drum against his metal elbow. “And he’s pretty much a giant kid, so yeah."

“You heard from him?”

“A text message saying _‘don’t eat my Oreos’_ just after they left, and another text about thirty seconds later saying _‘Phil says he’s confiscating my phone but seriously don’t eat my Oreos.’_ ”

“No-one ever said that he doesn’t have priorities,” Tony says, mouth twisting in a smile.

“Yeah, but maybe once in a while the clown could actually take his own well-being seriously instead of focussing on dumb shit,” Bucky scowls. “Between him and Steve, they’re going to give me a damn ulcer.”

“They’ll be fine,” Tony says easily, though he’s not entirely sure why he’s saying it. “They always are.”

Bucky breaths out slowly, mouth twisting. “Feels different this time though, don’t it?”

Tony looks over at Arto again, heart aching. “Well. This time around we didn’t just send our whatevers. We sent a father and an older brother.”

Bucky’s mouth hitches in the ghost of a smile. “Older brother? Don’t give him anything that important. He’s got himself down as the cool uncle.”

“He’s more than that, and you know it,” Tony says. “You saw him step in when me and Steve were fighting.”

“I did,” Bucky says. “And I’m telling you now, don’t you ever again make it so that Barton ends up as the voice of reason.”

“I’ll do my best,” Tony sighs. “Hey, you not sharing with us?” he gestures to the pizza box as Bucky steps away, turning as if to make for the door. He stops half way, looking a little thrown by the sort-of-invitation.

“I already ate one,” Bucky says with a shrug. “Then figured I should probably bring you two something, if I’m on guard duty.”

“Of course you did,” Tony says, pulling the box up to his knee. He leans over to poke Arto. “Come here, brat. Pizza.”

Arto uncurls slowly, still shooting Bucky suspicious glances.  “Pizza?” he asks, sniffing the air.

“Best food in all the universes,” Tony says, flipping the lid open. He pulls out a slice, offer it to Arto who shakes his head violently. “Fine, suit yourself.”

“What do you want to do with all his stuff, by the way?” Bucky says as he steps towards the door. “Move it into his room?”

“Yeah,” Tony says through a mouthful of pizza. “Might as well get-”

“No,” Arto shouts over him, sudden and angry. “Not my room.”

Bucky looks startled, face turning from Tony to Arto and back again. “Well this ain’t your room,” he says pointedly. 

“Is,” Arto snaps back at him. “I stay with Steve.”

“You can’t stay with Steve every night you know,” Tony begins, because letting Arto crash with them for a night was all well and good, but it most definitely cannot become a regular thing. Mostly because Arto needs to be able to stay on his own, and also because he gets the feeling the only time he and Steve are going to have any time alone is after Arto goes to sleep, and he’ll be damned if he can’t spend some of that time in their own bed.

“Can,” Arto replies, and his chin is wobbling and his cheeks are going pink. “I can.”

“Rogers’ stubbornness is definitely genetic, then,” Bucky mutters.

Tony sends him a flat look and then breathes out, thinking hard. “How about we move you into the penthouse,” he says to Arto, putting his half eaten slice back in the box and moving it aside. “You stay up here with-” 

“No,” Arto shouts, and what happens next is so quick that Tony barely registers it; Arto kicks out viciously and catches him in the knee, hard. Pain shoots through his leg and he swears, and Arto starts to scream, and suddenly Bucky is there and the screaming rises in volume. Tony looks up through the pain to see that Bucky is sitting on the bed with Arto held back against his chest, arms locked around his upper body and keeping his arms pinned to his sides. Arto’s fingers are scrabbling uselessly at Bucky’s arms, trying to scratch him, and his heels are thumping bad against the bed-

“Arto, calm down-” Tony manages to say, even as Bucky easily moves his leg around so his calf is pressing down against Arto’s shins, keeping his feet pinned in place. His jaw is clenched and his lips are pressed hard together, and even though Tony knows that this isn’t too much of a physical strain on him, it looks like he’s finding it hard.

“Not my room,” Arto manages to scream, face bright red and furious. “Not my fucking room-”

“Okay, okay,” Tony says, and he tries to move, but the pain in his knee stops him. He grits his teeth, shuffles across the bed and reaches out, putting his hands on Arto’s cheeks. “Arto, look at me. Okay, I’m not going to put you in that room if you hate it. You pick out your own space.”

“Here,” Arto cries, still trying to get free from Bucky’s grip. “I stay here, I sleep _here_.”

“Not here,” Tony says, and it breaks his heart to say it, and Arto starts screaming again. “Arto, listen to me. _Arto!”_

He shouts his name, and Arto stops screaming, gasping in great shuddering breaths. His eyes are bright and wild and this isn’t like the tantrum from the night before, the one that was nothing but noise and fighting for the hell of it; this is Arto being genuinely scared and panicked about something.

“Bucky, let him go,” Tony says as Arto strains against Bucky’s grip, twisting side to side to try and get away.

“No,” Bucky replies, and Tony sees the plates of his arm shifting as his arm recalibrates under the pressure. “He lands another kick like that he’s gonna break your leg.”

“Let him go,” Tony snarls.

“No,” Bucky snaps back, adamant. “If I let him hurt you Steve is going to kill me,” he says, and grunts with exertion as Arto twists in his arms again, back bowing as he tries to push free. He wails, screwing up his face in pain as he pushes-

“You’re hurting him,” Tony replies, feeling panic rising in his chest. “Barnes!”

“It’s only hurting because he’s fighting,” Bucky shouts. “I’m not letting him go. You hear that, kid? I’m not letting you go if I think you’re gonna hurt Tony, because I know you’ll feel bad if you do.”

“Fuck off,” Arto screams, and he twists his wrists around, digging his fingernails into Bucky’s real arm, pinching viciously. “Fuck off!”

“Not a chance,” Bucky snaps back. “And stop pinching me or Steve is going to be pissed.”

Arto’s screams rise in both pitch and volume, and Tony wants to clamp his hands over his ears, he wants to pull Arto from Bucky’s grip even if it means he gets hurt-

“You stop,” Bucky says roughly and Tony wants to punch him for the threatening edge he can detect in Bucky’s tone. “I am not letting you go until I know you’re not gonna hurt Tony. How is it gonna feel if you hurt him bad, huh? Is that what you want?”

“No,” Arto gasps, and then the screaming suddenly morphs into gasping sobs and he visibly stops straining against Bucky’s arms. His fingers are still digging into Bucky’s skin but it looks like he’s holding on rather than trying to cause Bucky any damage, and his head falls forwards as he shudders, squirming as he cries and tries half-heartedly to get away.

“Let him go,” Tony says, throat feeling tight.

Bucky shakes his head. “Still not convinced, Short-Round,” he says. “Come on, I know you hate this and you probably hate me right now, but you’re going to feel worse if you end up hurting your Dad.”

“Won’t hurt him,” Arto sobs, and it’s only then that Tony realises what Bucky just said, the word he just used. “I hate you.”

“I know,” Bucky says. “I hate me too right now, because this is hurting you. But I would be a bad friend if I didn’t stop you hurting other people.”

“Steve,” Arto sobs. “ _Tony._ ”

“Nearly there,” Bucky says, and there’s strain in his voice, though it’s a different kind now. “Nearly there, buddy.”

Arto still hasn’t given up entirely though, and Tony is desperately trying to think of what he can do, and what was it that Clint did before to divert a tantrum? He distracted him, talked at him until Arto forgot what he was even mad about-

“Hey, Bucky,” Tony says, thinking quickly. Bucky looks up at him, obviously confused by the forced casualness of Tony’s tone. “Remember when Steve had to do this to you? When you were angry?”

Shock is the first reaction, followed by something dark and hard that fleetingly crosses Bucky’s face like a shadow. “Yeah,” he says after a moment’s hesitation, breathing out slowly. “When Steve had to keep a hold of me so I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“But you knew he was doing it because he loved you, right?”

Bucky nods, throat working visibly as he swallows. “Yeah,” he says, and then he shuts his eyes and forces more words out. “Kinda hurt when Steve had to stop me. But I’m glad he did it. Or I would have probably hurt more people and that would have felt even worse.”

“Natasha had to do it to Clint once as well,” Tony says, working hard to keep the tremors out of his voice. “You weren’t there for that. He was - he was angry like you, and she had to stop him hurting people.”

Arto has stopped struggling. He’s slumped forwards in Bucky’s grip, head dipped low, breathing noisily through his mouth. Bucky is looking like he very badly wants to go and break something, and Tony’s not sure if it’s talking about what happened to him or Clint that has made him react like that.

“You know what made Clint feel better?” Bucky says abruptly, looking around like he’s searching for something. “A Bucky Bear.”

Tony gets the hint. He picks up the bear from where it ended up shoved behind a pillow and holds it out; Bucky cautiously slips an arm from around Arto’s middle and takes the bear, slipping it under Arto’s slumped form. There’s a moment and then Arto takes it, sitting up with the bear pressed over his face so Tony can’t see him.

“Atta boy,” Bucky says, sounding exhausted. He slowly tugs his other arm free; it’s bleeding from five or six half-crescent marks in his forearm, and he grimaces as he examines the marks.

“You should get-” Tony begins but Bucky shakes his head violently.

 _“Don’t let him know he did it,”_ he mouths, and Tony gets it.

“Come here, brat,” he says, and reaches for Arto, a careful hand stroking over his head. “You didn’t hurt me. Come here and-”

Arto scrambles forwards into his lap before he can finish the sentence, flinging his arms around Tony’s neck and holding him tightly. Tony holds him close, an arm around his back and one hand on the back of his head.

“We got you,” he whispers against the side of Arto’s face, a lump in his throat. “Don’t worry, we’ve got you.”

“I’m just gonna,” Bucky says, and he gestures towards the bathroom. His eyes are bright and his jaw is clenched and Tony lets him go without a word, just nodding. He hears the sound of running water, and wishes it were Steve in there, within calling distance.

“You okay?” he whispers to Arto. Arto loosens his grip on Tony’s neck and lets himself be gently guided back, curling up on Tony’s lap with one of his arms held against his chest, Bucky bear held tightly in the crook of his other elbow. His face is red and blotchy and his lip is trembling, obviously still over-emotional.

“Let me look,” Tony says, fear sitting in the pit of his stomach as he gently takes Arto’s wrist and eases his arm away from his chest. It’s got several red marks on, lines that have clearly come from the plates of Bucky’s metal arm.

“Wiggle your fingers,” Tony says, and Arto does easily. “There you go. Just marks from his arm, you’ll be fine."

Arto nods but tears well up in his eyes and spill over, running down his cheeks. “I sorry,” he forces out, and Tony feels his heart twist painfully.

“Hey, hey, don’t say sorry,” Tony says. “You’re fine, I’m fine, Bucky is fine. You let Bucky keep a hold of you, you were great. You didn’t hurt anyone, and that’s important, right? Steve’ll be pleased when he gets back.”

“Steve,” Arto says, and more tears well up. “Did,” he tries to say. “B – B – Bucky. He have to-?”

“Did he have to stop Bucky?” Tony fills in for him, and Arto nods. “Yeah, he did.”

“Want Steve to come back,” Arto says.

“Me too,” Tony says honestly. “He’ll be back as soon as he can.”

Arto nods, reaching up rub his eyes with his knuckles, hand curled into a fist. He opens his mouth and then closes it again, chin wobbling as he tries to stop his tears. He looks down at his own arm and strokes his fingers over the red marks, and great, just what he needed considering that he hated Bucky anyway.

“You look tired,” Tony says quietly as Arto rubs at his eyes again. “Get in, have a nap.”

Arto doesn’t argue. He lets Tony lie him down on Steve’s side of the bed, pulling the covers back and tucking him in, allows Tony to press the bear into his arms. Arto clutches it to him, and his eyelids are fluttering as soon as he lies his head down on Steve’s pillow, looking so impossibly tiny. His arm is outside the covers, the red marks standing out against his pale skin.

“Sleep, brat,” Tony says. “I’m going to check on Bucky and then be right back.”

Arto blinks sleepily. “Come back,” he says, and reaches out.

“Sure thing,” Tony says, and catches Arto’s fingers, leaning over and kissing them before letting him go and standing up.

He glances back at him as he gets up and walks towards the bathroom, but Arto doesn’t make a sound, just watches Tony with tired eyes. Fighting the urge to turn around and go straight back, Tony steps up to the half open bathroom door and raps his knuckles softly against the wood, before pushing it open.

Bucky roughly wipes his face with his hand as Tony edges silently in, turning off the tap that was running.

“Did I hurt him?” he asks, voice casual but with an underlying thickness that easily gives him away.

“No,” Tony says honestly. “He’s got a few marks on his arm from the plates, but nothing bad.”

Bucky’s face hardens, jaw clenching. “Couldn’t let him hurt you,” he says, sounding defensive. He folds his arms across his chest, shoulders tense. “Image he had broken your leg and then when he’d calmed down knew it was his fault.”

“I know,” Tony says, eyes staring at Bucky arm without really seeing it. “You did the right thing. I’m sorry for yelling at you, I just-”

“You didn’t like seeing him hurt,” Bucky interrupts. “I get it.”

They both stand there, quiet. Tony isn’t sure what to say, isn’t sure it’s his place to try and reassure Bucky about whatever has got him looking that way. It could be Tony mentioning Steve having to take Bucky out when they were dealing with the Winter Soldier all that time ago. It could be genuine fear that he’s hurt Arto. It could be mentioning Clint that’s got him all bent out of shape, Tony doesn’t know.

“What do you want me to do with his stuff, then?” Bucky breaks the silence, voicing the question that had set Arto off in the first place. “Move him in here with you?”

“No,” Tony says, shaking his head, because that’s one thing he can’t negotiate on. Sue said to pick the battles, and having space that belongs just to him and Steve is one he knows he’s got to stick with.

“You’re gonna put him back in the room near Barton’s?” Bucky asks, doubtful. “I don’t think he’s gonna go without a fight.”

“I know,” Tony sighs, leaning back against the cool clean tiles on the wall. “Bring it up into the penthouse lounge,” he says. “We’ll get a bed put in there for him. He might take it as a compromise.”

“He might scream the place down and insist he stays in there with you,” Bucky points out.

“He probably will,” Tony says, and pushes away from the wall. “So you might have to step in again.”

“Okay,” Bucky says, breathing out deeply. “You know I never want to hurt the kid, right?”

Tony stares at him. “I think you would do anything to keep him safe, because he’s Steve’s.”

Bucky’s mouth hitches in a small, depreciating smile. “Well, there’s one thing we’ve got in common,” he says, and steps away from the counter, walking past Tony and out of the room. Tony follows him, eyes instantly going to Arto. He’s already fast asleep, curled up small with his fingers clutching the pillow next to his cheek. There’s a little cleft between his eyebrows, a perfect mirror of the troubled frown that Steve sometimes wears when he’s not resting well.

“Hey, Barnes,” Tony says, eyes still on Arto. Bucky’s footsteps pause, almost at the door.

“What?”

“Thank you,” Tony says, and hears Bucky shift slightly.

“Don’t mention it,” he says, and then he’s gone. Tony walks over to the bed and sits down heavily on the edge, his back to Arto. He places his elbows on his knees and holds his head in his hands, feeling torn up and tangled because he wants nothing more than for Steve to be there, but Steve is probably halfway over Europe by now.

He straightens up, shifting around and gingerly bringing his leg up, hissing as he bends his knee. He’s going to have a hell of a bruise; it’s lucky that being Iron Man has basically taught him how to carry on as normal even when he’s been knocked six ways from Sunday.

Despite the pain, he can’t help but feel oddly like they accomplished something here today, managing to bring Arto down from his tantrum before it got too bad. Well, before it carried on for too long, because even though it was certainly shorter than the last one it was still awful to witness, especially knowing that Steve wouldn’t be there to do whatever it was that he did that usually calmed Arto down straight away.

The odd sensation of achievement doesn’t quite sit right with the rest of the emotions churning restlessly in his gut, and it takes him a moment to realise that part of it is an ache for a drink; between Pepper and Arto and Bucky goddamn Barnes, Tony could easily be very happy with a glass or four of scotch right about now.

He doesn’t. He stays where he is, thinking about what Pepper had said, about what he had said about Arto being Steve’s, about Bucky’s slip up earlier. He wonders if Arto even registered Bucky’s use of the word _Dad_ , and if it would mean anything to him even if he had.

In all honestly, he’s not exactly sure what it means to him yet.

“Fuck, I bet you’re confused,” he says quietly to Arto’s sleeping form. “The moment Steve gets back, we will explain everything. I promise. I’ll get Steve to draw you a family tree, get Coulson to find someone to forge you a birth certificate, the works.”

He looks out the window, gazing at the sky. _Get your ass home, Rogers,_ he silently thinks, because it’s starting to become apparent that he and Arto both need Steve like they need air, and he doesn’t think it’s going to feel right until Steve is back there with them.

 

* * *

 

 

The jet dips and shudders in the turbulence, but Steve barely notices. He’s sitting at the back near the closed door with a tablet on his knee, casting his eyes over a set of blueprints. He can’t focus properly on them though, the blue and black lines in front of him fading out of focus as he stares down at the tablet, unblinking.

He had to leave. He didn’t have a choice.

He knows that, so why does it feel like his stomach is tied up in a knot somewhere under his sternum?

Blowing out a breath, he rubs his mouth with his fingers, staring down at the metal floor beneath his feet. He feels irritation at his lack of focus swirling in his gut, stress levels rising because he can’t afford to be this distracted, this out of sorts. Not on a mission like this.

He thinks of Tony, at home without him. Christ, what if Arto has kicked off about him leaving already? Yeah, the kid was pretty calm as he left, even going so far as to give him a hug goodbye, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stay calm. The thought of him having a tantrum without Steve there is awful; the state Arto had been in the last time Steve returned to the tower is seared into his memory.

“You didn’t have to come, you know.”

Steve looks up to see Clint standing in front of him, leaning too casually against the wall. He’s fully kitted in his black tactical gear, and the only difference between him and the other agents is the fact he’s sporting an Avengers logo on his shoulder rather than a SHIELD one. “Yes I did,” he says, looking back to the tablet.

“You could have sent Bucky in your place. You could have told Fury to fuck himself.”

Steve pauses, considers that. His initial reaction is to snap back at Clint and say _‘No I couldn’t,’_ but there’s a nagging, anxious part of him that thinks maybe Clint is right. “Hydra is my fight,” he opts for saying. “It’s been my fight since the second world war, I’m not just going to stop now.”

Clint pulls a face. “Bucky was right, you are determined to never let anyone help you out.”

Anger spikes in Steve’s chest. “Back off,” he warns, making a private vow to throttle Bucky when he gets back home.

Clint holds up his hands, a gesture of surrender. “Just pointing out-”

“Point anything else out and I’m going to drop you out of the back of the jet,” Steve says, annoyed. “I get it, alright?”

“Unless you’ve ever been that kid who gets left behind again, I don’t think you do,” Clint says shortly, and goes to push away from the wall and turn away. Steve is quicker; he stands up and grabs Clint’s arm, pulling him around so they’re almost nose to nose.

“What is your problem all of a sudden?” he demands. Clint doesn’t try and pull his arm free, just looks at Steve flatly. “You were quick enough to volunteer to leave.”

“I didn’t volunteer to leave,” Clint says, face doing dark. “Bucky volunteered to stay. None of us should be here."

“It’s a bit late to be voicing your opinion now,” Steve says in disbelief. “We’re ten minutes out of drop zone-”

“Gentlemen,” a calm voice says, and Steve looks up to see Coulson standing in front of him in SHIELD tactical gear, a rare enough sight as it is. Sometimes Steve forgets that Coulson is actually an active agent, rather than spending his time simply doing paperwork and scaring junior agents.

“Hi Phil,” Clint says casually. “Steve was just letting me go.”

Scowling, Steve lets go of Clint’s arm. “We are on a mission,” he says to Clint, not caring that Coulson is standing right there. “If you had something to say about the situation at home, you should have said it while we were at home, where I could have done something about it. You understand him better than any of us - I wouldn't have just ignored you.”

Something like surprise mingled with guilt flashes over Clint’s face, maybe at Steve’s admission that he would have listened to him. “Sorry,” he mutters. “I just – I feel bad.”

Steve’s anger ebbs away. “Yeah, me too,” he says shortly.

“You sure you’re good for this?” Coulson asks mildly, looking from Clint to Steve and back again.

“Yes,” Steve says shortly. “I’m fine.”

Coulson doesn’t respond to that, just nods contemplatively. “Fury says you named him.”

Steve looks at Clint, who just shrugs. “Clint named him,” Steve says, and pauses. “Arto.”

“How is he?”

Steve leans back, scrutinizing Coulson for a moment. “Are you asking me because you genuinely want to know, or have you got an agenda?”

“No agenda,” Coulson says. “I’d like to think that by now we’re at the point where we can ask about each other’s personal lives every once in a while.”

“He’s…settling,” Steve says slowly. “I think.”

The jet takes a sudden dip; Coulson steps sideways and reaches up to hold onto the wall. “He’s staying?”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “That going to be a problem?”

“Not by me,” Coulson says, and pauses before saying, “Maybe by Fury.”

“Fury can go fuck himself,” Clint says, resting his bow against his boot and spinning it slowly around, palm resting against the upper limb.

“He can’t go back,” Steve says, privately thinking that the whole of SHIELD can go fuck itself at this point. “It’s not safe. And he’s getting attached to us. He’s already attached to us.”

“And you to him?”

Steve doesn’t reply to that. “Tony won’t let him go. Not for anyone.”

“I don’t think many people had Stark pegged at the paternal type,” Coulson muses, and Steve raises an eyebrow, challenging. He’ll happily accept that he’s not been the best at dealing with this situation, and he knows that Tony wasn’t altogether great to him, but if anyone so much as hints that Tony hasn't done right by Arto then he’s going to object with prejudice.

“Didn’t you?”

“I’ve come to conclude that he’s good at both living up to his reputation and surprising people,” Coulson says. “I’m glad this was the latter.”

“Aren’t we all,” Clint remarks.

“I hear you’re enjoying being a big brother,” Coulson says, perfectly straight-faced, and Clint rears back, surprised and suspicious.

“Everything Nat says is a lie,” he says, but then does a double-take and turns to Steve. “Hey, does it make you my adoptive Dad if I am?”

Steve stares at him. “I’m going to pretend you never said that.”

Clint pulls a face. “I know where I’m not wanted.”

“You are Bucky’s problem these days, not mine,” Steve remarks. “I’ve got Tony and Arto to deal with. I’m tapped.”

 _“Coming over the drop zone, Captain,”_ a voice says over the comms. _“Should be able to take you right in. Three minutes.”_

“Got it,” Steve says. “Head in the game, Hawkeye. Three minutes untill we land.”

 “Finished gossiping?” Natasha says, walking up and fiddling with something on her wrist. The bites around her wrist hum with electricity, lighting up blue for a moment. Clint takes a pointed step back and she allows herself a tiny smile. “What’s the plan, Captain?”

“We land, we get off the jet, we take out anyone wearing Hydra gear, we get back on the jet,” Steve says, and she smiles mischievously at him.

“Sounds familiar,” she drawls. “Which master tactician taught you that plan?”

“That’s all me,” Steve says, reaching for his shield and slipping it into his arm. He flexes his fingers around the strap, willing his stomach to settle. It won’t.

“Twenty bucks?” Natasha says, and Clint makes an indignant noise.

“How come me and Barnes are banned from betting on missions?”

“Because you two are overgrown man-children,” Natasha says. Clint opens his mouth to retort but there’s a deafening _boom_ and the jet veers sharply to the left as the darkening sky outside is lit up with a tell-tale orange flash.

“Anti-aircraft!” Steve shouts, slamming his palm onto the button to disengage the back door. It immediately starts to move with a grinding clunk, the hydraulics hissing and groaning. “Everyone get a chute, we’re jumping! Right now, go!”

“You heard the Captain! Everyone, chute up,” Coulson is calling over the rushing sound of the wind as it tears past the door, pulling a chute from the storage compartment on the wall and tossing it to Natasha. “Barton, give me eyes!”

Clint is already at the door, holding onto one of the extended hydraulic poles and leaning out, muscles in his arm visibly tense. “They really do not want us here,” he shouts back. “Jesus, it’s chaos. Two fires in separate locations, three guns firing towards us and the other jet, can see quite a bit of ground fire-”

“Get away from the damn door until you’ve got your chute on!” Steve bellows at him as another _boom_ shakes the floor of the jet.

“You were threatening to drop me from the back of the jet five minutes ago,” Clint yells back, but he steps away, turning towards Steve-

There’s an ear-splitting bang and the left side of the jet is suddenly engulfed in flame. The mayday alarm blares over the speakers, red lights flashing as the whole jet swerves violently to the left, juddering under Steve’s feet-

“Whoa, fuck-!”

There’s a horrifying moment where Clint staggers back a step, arms windmilling wildly. Steve lunges for him but the jet violently jerks again, sending everyone sprawling back against the wall. Steve’s head bangs painfully against the bulkhead and he swears, tasting copper in his mouth-

When he forces his eyes open again, Clint is gone.

The doorway is empty, the sky beyond dark and endless. The wind howls past, and Steve is frozen for a moment, waiting to see Clint re-appear, hauling himself back inside the jet and yelling about how SHIELD pilots are supposed to be better than your average New York cab driver-

The doorway stays empty.

“Clint?” he shouts over the sound of the alarm, hauling himself to his feet and staggering over to the doorway, gripping tightly onto the edge. There’s nothing below them but darkness, orange bursts of gunfire and billowing smoke coming from the complex, rising thick and cloying across the river-

A hand grasps his arm and Natasha is there, leaning forwards dangerously far, face white. She stares out of the doorway, fingers painfully tight on Steve’s elbow.

“Clint,” she says, almost distracted, eyes flicking back and forth. The shock on her face is terrifying, something that she usually never lets anyone see. Steve twists his arm around, gets his fingers around her wrist. There’s more rumbling crashes of artillery, and the sky around them lights up, orange and violent.

The jet rocks violently but Steve can’t do anything but stare out of the doorway into the space where Clint had been, body frozen even as Natasha pulls against his grip, her scream of _“Clint!”_ torn out of her mouth, the words snatched away by the wind and tossed into the darkness beyond.

 


	11. Chapter 11

Steve hits the water hard, the cold hitting him harsh and painful. He pushes towards the surface, breaking free and gasping in air that tastes like gasoline and smoke. He coughs, shaking his head side to side and looking up, sharp eyes trying to spot the shapes of parachutes in the air above him.

There’s too much smoke; he gives up and looks around, eyes taking in his surroundings. The factory on the edge of the river is ablaze, and he can hear the roar of gunfire and the shattering sounds of explosions. He curses under his breath; this is a situation that is clearly out of hand. By the looks of things, he needed to have gotten here days ago.

You needed to be at home, a voice in the back of his head says, one that sounds suspiciously like Tony. Treading water, he ignores it and twists around in the water, scanning for blond hair. He wishes Clint had chosen to wear his purple gear instead of the damn black.

He can’t see anyone, and the knot of fear in his stomach clenches tighter.

“You were not clear to jump without a chute!” Coulson’s voice shouts over his comm unit. He ignores that as well, kicking hard and swimming over to the loading jetty that juts out into the river, the concrete glowing orange in the light of the fire, the water around it black and slick with dirt and oil.

“Captain, come in, what is your status?”

“Fine,” Steve replies curtly.

“Leave Hawkeye, focus on the objective,” Coulson replies, and somehow he knows exactly what Steve is planning. “You are to find any commanding officers, rescue any hostages-”

“Fuck that,” Steve snaps, because he’s been here before, he’s let someone slip from his fingertips and not looked for them, and Hydra will be dead and burned before Steve lets them get their hands on another of his friends. Even if Clint is – even if he didn’t – Hydra are _not_ having him.

He reaches the jetty, grabs the edge and hauls himself out, landing in a crouch and breathing hard. Water drips down his face, the cold starting to seep in through his suit.

“Captain, listen to me. Do not change your objective.”

Steve ignores him. There is something terrifying and angry trying to rip free from his chest, something that is echoing with Bucky’s screams, mingled with Clint’s startled expression and the roaring wind in the space where they should be-

He reaches back, unclips his shield and slips it onto his forearm. His heart is pounding in his ears and nothing matters but finding Clint. Crouching low, he moves quickly to the nearest wall, pressing his shoulder against it and making sure that he’s hidden in shadows. He looks left and right and quickly works out where he is; the building he’s pressed against is a storage warehouse, and if he can get in there then he can move through the complex, back towards where Clint fell from the jet. It was only around thirty seconds between Clint falling and Steve jumping, so he should be somewhere within the boundaries of the complex.

He takes off at a sprint. He vaults over a chain-link fence and into an open courtyard, dodging the sweeping white light that’s jerking erratically over the ground like it’s lost something. Boots crunching on the gravel, he braces himself and shoulders straight through an outside door, smashing his way into the building. He immediately comes face to face with three armed guards; they’re so shocked by his abrupt entrance that they don't even have time to straighten up before the shield swings and they fall in quick succession. Steve doesn’t know if they’ll get back up again, but the combination of fear, anger and adrenaline that’s coursing through him doesn't leave him much room to care.

He already knew from looking at the blueprints that the complex was akin to a maze, rooms and floors joined by sprawling network of corridors, like an ants' nest. He’s memorized the major pathways, so he’s immediately on the move again, heading in the direction he needs to be going in to try and find Clint. He runs the length of the bare concrete corridor he’s found himself in and kicks though the second door he comes across, the lock snapping easily. He bursts into what looks like a garage, filled with shipping containers and vehicles in various states of assembly. This time he skids to a halt, because there are four Hydra agents and they seem to have been expecting a confrontation; they’re standing ready and all have guns pointing at him. They’re shouting in broken English and Romanian, and he hears commands to shoot in Russian as well, one of the men stepping forwards towards him-

“Strelyat' v nego!”

A figure drops from the rafters. Steve only has to glimpse the red hair before he’s slinging the shield, knocking out two agents as Natasha hits the third and fourth; she breaks one’s neck in a vicious twist and then grabs the other by his wrist. She flips over and uses the momentum to sling him around, slamming him onto the floor. The man screams in pain, and as Steve catches the shield he hears the crack of a breaking bone. He jogs over, jaw clenched tight. Natasha’s face is contorted with fury. Steve doesn’t even contemplate telling her to ease up.

“Gde luchnik,” she spits, crouching over the man, her face inches from his. “Skazhi mne!”

“Ya ne znayu!” the man screams. “Ya ne znayu!”

“What a pity,” Natasha breathes in his ear and Steve steps forwards but she’s slammed both her fists into the sides of the man’s neck, Widow’s Bites sparking bright blue. The man lets out a strangled scream and then goes still.

Natasha stands up, perfectly still. “Let's move,” she says to Steve, and if he didn’t know better he’d say she was in perfect control. She looks at the huge bay doors that are on their left, and then to the double doors at the far end of the room, eyes glittering with purpose. “That man better be dead or I’m going to kill him.”

“Are you talking about that guy or Clint?” Steve shouts after her as she walks away, nodding to the motionless body on the floor.

“Both,” she snarls, and she reaches out to grab a long handled wrench off of the hood of one of the partially-built jeeps, swinging it at her side as she makes for the doors. “Come on.”

Steve doesn’t need to be told twice. He takes off after her, joining her just as she pulls open one of the doors and steps out of the garage into a stairwell that’s lit only by one feebly flickering bulb. They go up a floor and she barely hesitates before shouldering through another door, into a corridor with a polished linoleum floor, with thick pipes running along the right hand wall, giving the place the impression of a strange cross between a hospital and a factory. The lights here are all out, a scant amount of light coming in through the dark-tinted windows.

Steve hears voices. He throws out a hand, halts Natasha. She stops dead, fingers curling around the wrench-

There’s the crack of a gunshot, the sound of a shattering window. Steve lifts his shield over the two of them as the darkened glass showers over them, and corridor is lit by the ominous orange glow of flames. The whole place seems to shudder beneath them. “ _Go!_ ” Steve bellows, and Natasha is moving before the word is even out of his mouth, sprinting down the corridor and away.

Steves makes to follow but there’s the zip of a bullet past his ear, the sharp clang of it hitting something metal. Steve spins on his heel and spots the black uniform retreating through a doorway; he runs forwards and the soldier barely has time to raise her gun before Steve is on her, kicking her hard enough in the chest to shatter several ribs. Behind him he hears gunfire and a pained shout, the sounds of a scuffle moving further away.

Breathing hard, he takes a moment to make sure the woman he kicked isn’t going to get back up again, and then movement out of the corner of his eye has him whipping around again, shield ready to fly-

He keeps hold of it by the barest margin as Coulson emerges from a doorway. His face is smeared with something that looks like soot and he’s got his gun in hand, ready to shoot.

“Stand down, Captain,” Coulson says, and he’s so calm that Steve wishes he _had_ knocked him out with the fucking shield. The place is chaos and Clint is still missing and Coulson is talking like they’re at the damn grocery store. “I thought the plan was for you to move North through the complex.”

“I nearly took your fucking head off,” Steve snaps. There’s a shout from the direction Natasha vanished in and the rattle of gunfire; Steve and Coulson both back up and duck down behind a chunk of the ceiling which is now blocking the corridor, leaving a gaping maw open above their heads. A dull roar sounds in the distance, and outside sirens are wailing. Steve grits his teeth, wondering what the hell is going on out there. Fury hadn't been kidding when he’d said that the SHIELD agents in play didn't have the damn threat contained.

Coulson just leans back against the wall, gun in hand. “You need to calm down,” he instructs, voice raised over the noise. He winces slightly as gunshots ricochet off the wall beside him, showering him with sharp pieces of concrete. “Hawkeye will be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” Steve bites out, trying to keep his voice level.

“Have you met Clint Barton?” Coulson shouts back, and he nods at Steve; Steve vaults the broken piece of concrete and ducks behind his shield. Bullets ping off of its surface and the distraction is time enough for Coulson to edge around the corner and shoot both Hydra agents that are firing at them straight between the eyes in quick succession. “The man’s like a damn cockroach, you won’t get rid of him that easily.”

“It’s not like he’s tripped down a stairwell this time, or did you miss the part where he fell out the back of a jet?” Steve snaps, and he runs to the next corner with Coulson on his heels.

“He’s had worse,” Coulson shouts, checking his gun as he leans back against the wall. “Captain, trust me. He had his bow in his hand when he fell; he’ll be fine.”

Both the rationalization and the belief in Coulson’s tone register in Steve’s mind, and he finds the frenetic churning of his insides receding. The fear that was wrapped around his heart like razor wire eases enough for Steve to take a proper breath. Feeling marginally calmer – though not by a lot – he tips his head back and exhales heavily through his teeth. “I’ll believe it when I’ve got my hands on him,” he replies finally, and though his voice is flat and grim, he sounds more like himself than he did five minutes ago. “And just so we’re all clear; if he _is_ okay, when I get my hands on him, I’m going to kill him.”

“He most likely knows that and is probably hiding from you,” Coulson yells. “You go left, I go right?”

“On my mark,” Steve nods. “One, two - go!”

He takes off, and he’s halfway down the corridor when there’s a deafening blast. Hot air smacks him in the face and he’s thrown backwards by the force, straight through a wall. He hits the floor hard, dazed and winded.

“Coulson?” he coughs, trying to draw in a breath; it feels like there’s a knife jammed between his ribs. “Ah, shit.”

He pushes himself up onto his elbows, shield still miraculously in his hand. There’s a huge hole in the wall he was just blasted through, and he can see flames licking feebly along the floor, scattered pieces of concrete all over the corridor. There’s a light swinging haphazardly from a tangle of wires that have been ripped from the ceiling, spitting sparks intermittently into the air.

Ignoring both the pain and the ringing in his ears, Steve rolls over onto his hands on knees, taking a deep breath before struggling to his feet. Just above his knee, there’s blood seeping through the leg of his suit, turning the blue fabric black. His chest is even more painful; there’s no blood but he’s either cracked ribs or torn some muscles.

He glances back to check his six, intending to move on, but he halts, distracted. The room he’s ended up in looks like a laboratory; before it was half blown to pieces it would have been pristine, all white tiles and stainless steel workbenches and furniture. There’s a computer terminal that is miraculously untouched by the carnage, and Steve should be focusing on that but he’s not. At the far end of the room is a huge metal container that looks horribly familiar, and Steve’s feet are taking him towards it without permission.

When he’s standing beside it, he reaches out, presses his gloved hand to the container. It’s huge; seven feet long and easily a couple of feet deep. The metal is several inches thick, held in places by heavy rivets.

Another explosion echoes through the facility, and Steve feels the floor beneath his feet tremble. He doesn’t look away from the container though, because he’s seen this before, or something very similar. It looks like a cross between the capsule he had stepped into as part of Project Rebirth, and the cryo-chambers that Hydra had used to keep Bucky in.

This can’t be good, Steve thinks distantly. He reaches up to his comm unit, hoping that someone can hear him. “Coulson? Widow? Can anyone copy – I’ve found something.”

There’s no reply. Frowning, he leans over and runs his hands over the sleek metal, up to the circular glass window set into the front. There are no handles he can see, and there’s no line where pieces would separate, just one heavy lid. Like a coffin, he thinks, jaw clenching. He slips his hands under the edge of the lid and shoves, hard. There’s a clunk and the whole top half lifts; he shoves the lid all the way up and over.

“Fuck,” he breathes, because inside there are tubes and wires and the glint of needles, a series of bulbs set into the metal, attached with crude wiring that snakes uncovered all around the edges. In the midst of all the mess, there’s a clear space for someone to lie down, padded and roughly in the shape of a person.

He quickly pulls his phone from the pouch on his belt, thumbs the screen on and snaps a few pictures in quick succession. He doesn't hesitate before sending them straight to Tony’s Avengers contact number, once again pointedly not caring that he’s not supposed to send Tony anything whilst on a mission that’s under SHIELD jurisdiction. By the looks of things, this is going to be something that the Avengers will be getting heavily involved with so he might as well get Tony on it sooner rather than later.

Evidence taken, he turns his attention to the rest of the room. There are several pieces of equipment on one of the benches, though they’re knocked over and look to be broken. He thinks he’s seen something similar in Bruce’s lab in the tower, but he’s doesn’t actually know what any of them are. He needs Tony for stuff like this, though a large, protective part of him will frankly admit that he’s glad that Tony isn’t here.

He takes several photos and sends them to Tony, then turning his attention to the computer terminal. As he crosses the room, he wonders if this is anything like the lab that Clint and Bucky found Arto in. The protective thing in his chest snarls, hot anger spiking violently. He didn’t think he could hate Hydra any more, but he’s thinking about Arto curled up in his lap with angry tears on his face, and the mere thought of him being anywhere near a place like that makes Steve so angry he can barely think.

 _Focus_ , he tells himself, but it’s a futile thought because now he’s thinking about Arto, he can’t stop. He feels a strange, irrational urge to call Tony, to check where Arto is, that he’s safe. _Of course he’s safe, you left him with Tony and Bucky,_ he tells himself, but then again he was supposed to be keeping Clint safe and look at what a fuck up he’s made of that.

“Focus,” he says, aloud this time. He breathes out through his mouth and crouches down by the computer terminal, rapidly tapping a few more buttons on his phone. He reaches out with the other hand and tries to turn the terminal on. Nothing happens and he curses, checking for any wires or contact points that might have-

The second explosion is ever louder. It hits him with the force of a truck; a rush of orange light that sends him flying backwards. He can’t breathe. His ears are screaming with white noise. His body hits something hard and then there’s a crack of pain to the back of his head, and everything goes black.

He’s vaguely aware of a shock of cold, a strange sensation surrounding him. Dazed, he reaches up to try and push whatever it is covering his mouth away, but it won’t go, something is trying to suffocate him-

His eyes snap open and he chokes on a mouthful of dirty water. The cold hits him like knives and his chest feels like it’s about to rend in two, and he frantically tries to right himself as he realizes he’s been thrown clear out of the building and into the river. His feet flail for a moment, and then one hits something solid. He bends his knees, tries to push off but something hard hits him across his back, dragging him further into the water. His feet are scraping along the bottom of the riverbed, and he pushes away from the huge metal beam that’s slowly sinking into the depths and taking him with it. His eyes are stinging and his chest is burning, and he knows he can hold his breath for a long time but if he’s got cracked ribs it’s going to make it a hell of a lot harder. Grunting in the back of his throat, he shoves the metal beam away but there’s a snap of pain in his wrist, and he’s caught up in a tangle of metal cables, looped around his forearm.

He tears his glove free, trying to pull his hand from between the cables, but he’s being dragged steadily deeper and the urge to open his mouth and scream is growing and growing, and he fights it-

There’s a sudden, agonizing pain in his shoulder, wrenching him back. He gasps, and his lungs immediately fill with water, and suddenly he’s not thinking about how to get free. His brain has stopped and he’s going to drown and all he can think of is Tony grinning at him across the room, Arto looking at him through sleep tired eyes, holding onto his fingers.

He never got the chance to do right by either of them.

His chest hurts too much.

Inexplicably, he’s yanked back with a considerable amount of force, and his arm comes free from the cables. He blinks and his brain seems to reboot, body surging into motion again. He tries to kick away from the bottom of the river but he’s floating and he doesn’t even know which way is up, and his shoulder is still stabbing with pain, and Tony is going to kill him for getting hurt, but something is still pulling him-

He breaks the surface, and gasps in a choked breath. The world slams back into focus in a terrible barrage of smells and tastes and sounds, and he feels hands grabbing his shoulders and hauling him up out of the water. God, he hurts all over, he reaches out blindly and his bare hand scrapes against concrete. He manages to grab hold, and someone is still pulling at him, and he manages to focus enough to pull himself out of the water, hitting the concrete on the floor on his front and jarring his chest agonizingly. His shoulder burns too, the pain sharp and gritty.

“Fucking Christ, Steve! You are banned from swimming!” a furious voice shouts. “You keep doing it wrong!”

Clint.

Gasping, Steve pushes himself onto his hands and knees, bracing his fist on the floor in front of him.  “You ass,” Steve chokes, and he staggers to his feet. “I thought you were dead and I was going to have to tell Bucky.”

“You’re an ass,” Clint yells back. He’s standing there without a scratch, and Steve could _throttle_ him. “I thought you were going to drown and I would have had to tell Tony and Arto!”

Steve throws up. His stomach roils and he doubles over, vomiting what feels like gallons of river water and everything he’s eaten in the past week onto the concrete in front of him. Choking, he braces his hands on his knees, legs shuddering  violently and stomach heaving with something terrifying –

Clint is there in an instant, holding onto Steve’s unwounded shoulder and pressing his palm between his shoulder blades. He’s talking but Steve can’t hear a thing; everything is muffled and distant like he’s still underwater, a roaring in his ears the only thing he can make out.

Tony and Arto.

If he’d have drowned, someone would have had to tell Tony and Arto.

Arto.

He heaves again, and sound rushes back into the world in a dull roar; the noise of the fire, chopper blades thudding above their heads, Clint’s panicked voice and the wet gasps from his own lungs. He can smell the acrid burning of the factory behind them, the churned up river on the other side, the sharp smell of vomit and blood.

“Don’t you dare tell Arto I got hurt,” he chokes out, wiping his mouth with the back of his glove. The fire raging nearby makes everything glow, the red shining brightly in the light.

“You got it,” Clint says, sounding relieved. “Don’t you tell Bucky I fell out of the jet.”

Steve laughs weakly, clenches his eyes and presses his bare hand to the star on his chest. Damn it hurts; maybe it’s slightly more than a couple of cracked ribs. The pain feels very central as well, throbbing dully under his palm.

“Stand still,” he hears Clint say, and Steve gasps as the dull burning pain in his shoulder intensifies.

“What the fuck,” Steve manages, and tries to stand up, shoving Clint away. “Get off-”

“You’ve got a grappling hook in your back, let me pull it out!”

Well, that would certainly explain the pain. Steve doesn’t even bother trying to turn around and look; his chest hurts too much when he moves. “Why is there a fucking grappling hook in my back?”

“I had to get you out of the water!” Clint says defensively. “Let me get it out. It’s mostly in your suit, but I think it got you pretty good as well.”

Steve just nods wearily. He leans forwards again with his hands braced on his knees, shuts his eyes, breathes out unsteadily through his nose-

“Fucking _whore_ ,” he gasps as there’s a sudden twist of ugly pain in his shoulder, but then it’s gone, fading into the usual ache of a wound. God, Tony is going to kill him when he gets home with a broken chest and damn grappling hook marks in his back.

“You okay?” Clint asks. “You’re bleeding.”

“It’ll stop,” Steve says, and straightens up. He reaches behind to gingerly poke at his shoulder; it doesn’t hurt too badly now that the hook is out. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Clint says, and he swings the grappling hook around by the cable it’s still attached to. “No, seriously, don’t mention it. Especially not to Tony. He’ll kill me if he finds out I shot you.”

“I think he’d be angrier if you’d left me to drown,” Steve says, and Clint hums in acknowledgement. “Did it rip my suit?”

“Three teeny tiny holes,” Clint says. “Whatever the hell Tony upgraded it with works a treat.”

“Captain!”

At the shout of his name, Steve turns around, but staggers slightly. Clint is instantly there, shoving his shoulder under Steve’s and wrapping a strong arm around his waist. Steve’s ego protests, but he knows that if Clint lets him go he’ll probably end up on his ass and that would be even worse.

Natasha and Coulson are walking over. Coulson has a nasty scrape on his forehead and miraculously has Steve’s shield in hand, and Steve mentally hopes that he’s going to give it back without Steve having to ask. Natasha looks to be uninjured but is spattered with what looks like blood. She looks even angrier than she did earlier, and Steve feels Clint try and take a shuffling step backwards.

“ _Popal, balvan_ ,” she snarls, and Clint cringes.

“Um, sorry?”

“Ti durak,” she snaps, and then she takes his face in her hands and leans up to kiss his forehead, her brow creasing for a fleeting moment as she presses her mouth to his skin, so quick that Steve barely has time to notice it. “You are not allowed in a jet without a parachute ever again,” she hisses at him as she pulls back, but he’s grinning crookedly at her.

“You were worried,” he grins. “About little old me. What happened to the Nat who said I was attention seeking when I fell out of a fourth story window?”

“Shut up,” she says. “I’m telling Bucky.”

Clint’s face falls. “Aw, Nat.”

“And you-” she says, and she points her finger in Steve’s face. “Stop going near water if you can’t swim, idiot.”

“I can swim,” Steve protests half-heartedly. He holds out his free hand towards Coulson and Coulson’s mouth quirks in a faint smile like he knows what Steve is thinking. He looks down at the shield in his hand and then passes it over without a comment. Steve is about to say thank you when there’s a muffled _boom_ in the distance.

“What’s going on in there?” Clint asks, looking vaguely interested. “I thought the plan was to blow most things up, not everything.”

“All hostile agents eliminated,” Natasha says coolly, turning and looking at the fire that’s raging through half of the complex. “Two officers apprehended. Minimal data retrieved.”

Steve remembers. “I found something,” he says, carefully resting the edge of his shield atop his boot, leaning it back against his knee. “Just before I got blown through the wall. It looked like the chamber they used in Project Rebirth.”

Coulson’s head jerks around, and Nat turns slowly to look at him, hair glowing brightly in the light of the flames. “The same?”

“A copy,” Steve says, and hisses out a breath as Clint moves under his weight.

“You’re heavy,” Clint complains. “What the fuck is Tony feeding you?”

“Cement,” Steve replies, and screws an eye shut as he tries to move and pain ripples through his chest, curse words slipping out without permission. “Ah, bastard.”

“I’m sure he’s not that bad,” Clint says, and Steve sends him an exasperated glance.

“You need to go to medical,” Coulson says, and lifts a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “Backup, contact. Need evac from West pier point-”

“I’m fine,” Steve protests, but Natasha is narrowing her eyes at him.

“What about if I do this?” she asks and points her finger at the star on his chest as if she’s about to poke him.

“No, no, no,” Steve protests, shrinking away as best he can with Clint still holding him up and pain throbbing dully in his chest. Her finger stops half a centimeter away. “Okay,” he admits. “I think I’ve cracked my sternum.”

“You’re going to medical,” Nat says, and Steve doesn’t argue but he doesn’t nod either, because the moment they put him on that jet he’s going to use every ounce of power he’s got to make whoever’s in the pilot seat take him straight back to the tower. He doesn’t give a damn what happens to the rest of this complex; he just needs to get home to Tony and Arto, now.

“Hawkeye, you escort the Captain to medical,” Coulson says, and Steve internally breathes a sigh of relief because he can easily convince Clint to help get him back to the tower. “Agent Romanoff, you stay with me.”

Steve finds himself zoning out from the rest conversation, half listening as his mind wanders elsewhere. He’s filing away what Coulson and Natasha are talking about in the back of his mind, but he’s focused on the thought of Tony and Arto waiting for him at home, having no idea what’s just happened to him. Images of the strange container he’d found also keep coming to the forefront of his mind, because the obvious explanation is that Hydra are trying to recreate Project Rebirth again.

He feels like this mission has been a failure. All they did was barrel through and exterminate the Hydra agents, which is actually okay as far as Steve is concerned. He just wishes they could have done it without so many injuries and without letting the retreating Hydra agents set fire to the damn place. He supposes it’s not his fault that it was utter chaos by the time they arrived, but still. They probably could have retrieved more intel if they hadn’t gone off plan to find Clint, but there’s no way in hell Steve would ever make the call to not look for a teammate. Maybe he should stop expecting the others to continue with mission objectives whenever he gets hurt, he thinks vaguely, though he’s not going to admit it out loud and definitely not to Tony.

He watches the fire raging, the efforts of the SHIELD teams to keep in contained. Privately, he thinks they should leave the whole place to burn, but that’s the angry emotional side of him. Logically, he knows they need to get the fire out so they can go in and retrieve whatever’s left.

The jet lands twenty minutes later and Steve manages to get himself onto it without any assistance. He falls into a chair with a grunt of pain, breathing out heavily. He tugs his cowl off and then sets his shield beside him and watches as Clint falls into a seat a little way away, his bow held safely in both hands. Steve would prefer that he be taped into the damn chair, but he’ll settle for knocking him out with the shield if Clint even thinks about getting up before the jet has landed.

Now the adrenaline from the fight is fading, Steve finds the space filled by relief so strong that it leaves him shaking. Half of it is that Clint is there with him and he’s safe, the rest is that _he’s_ there and safe. The thought of Clint having to go back and tell Tony and Arto that Steve hadn’t made it makes something terrible and devastating churn in his chest, makes his throat go tight, hands trembling.

Without thinking, he shoves his hand into the pocket on his belt, pulls out his phone. He taps it with his thumb and the screen lights up, none the worse for having been blown to hell and dunked in the river. Steve would suggest that Tony make the case it’s in available to the general public, but he knows how much it cost to make the single one that’s wrapped around Steve’s phone.

He hits the speed-dial icon, the one that was preloaded onto the phone when Tony gave it to him all that time ago, the one he never questioned being there even when Bucky frowned and asked what the hell Stark was trying to prove. Hand still shaking, his holds the phone to his ear, leaning on his other elbow and covering his eyes with his hand. The phone beeps, clicks and then rings, the dial tone crisp and clear. Tony should pick up – he’s got to pick up – it’s late here but only about five in New York, and unless he’s wrapped up in the workshop or with Arto-

“Steve?”

Hearing Tony’s voice makes Steve feel like he can breathe again. “Hi,” he manages, voice steady but thick, and he knows there’s no way Tony isn’t going to notice him sounding off.

“What’s up?” Tony asks immediately. “Did you blow up Bucharest yet?”

“I’m on the way home.”

“That was quick,” Tony says, sounding mildly surprised. “I got your pictures. Looks like a knock-off of Project Rebirth, right?”

“Yeah,” Steve says heavily.  “Would explain why they’re so keen on keeping me out of the way.”

“So why the early finish, if you think that’s what they’re doing?” Tony asks. “Thought you would be beating confessions out of goons, or at least sweeping the place-”

“Wanted to come home,” Steve says abruptly. “Where’s Arto?”

There’s a brief pause. “Taking a nap on the couch,” Tony says, sounding careful. “Steve?”

“I,” Steve begins, and then stops himself, swallowing hard. “I’m a mess.”

“Literal?” Tony asks. “I swear, if you’ve got yourself hurt-”

“Think I’ve cracked my sternum,” Steve admits. “And there was an incident with a grappling hook.”

“Going to kill you,” Tony says immediately. “How the hell have you managed to crack your sternum? Did Red Skull appear in person and punch you in the chest?”

“I don’t know, somewhere between being blown up and thrown through a wall, and being blown up and thrown into the river,” Steve says listlessly. He can hear the hum of the coffee maker in the background, and what sounds like cartoons on the television. He guesses they’re in the communal area, and he can easily image Arto curled up on one of the huge couches, looking far too small as he sleeps, wearing his usual small cross frown. “Don’t be pissed.”

“I am going to be pissed, I am pissed. I don’t like you getting hurt, you idiot,” Tony says tersely. “Especially when I’m not there to make sure you’re okay.”

“Well I’m on the way back now,” Steve says, and breathes out, chest aching. He wants to say something, he feels like he needs to say something to Tony but he’s not sure what it is. He feels all over the place, thinking of the damn mission and Clint falling out of the jet and Tony holding him close with his arms around Steve’s neck, thinking of Arto clinging to him and falling asleep against his shoulder, and it’s all such a twisted jumble that he doesn’t even know what it is he’s trying to find the words for.

“Steve?”

“Tell me you’re okay,” he says, quick and sudden, the words leaving him in a rush. “Tony.”

“I’m okay,” Tony says immediately. “I am absolutely fine. Going crazy with no-one but a six-year old and Barnes for company, though. Bruce won’t even let me in his lab, he claims he’s doing science that doesn’t require interference from the engineering department.”

Steve exhales. “I’m coming straight back to the tower,” he says.

There’s a long pause.

“Tony?”

“You know I love you, right?” Tony says, and the words hit Steve right in the stomach, twisting up in a strangely warm way that he wants to cling onto forever. “But I’m guessing, if you’ve somehow cracked your sternum and there’s been an incident with a grappling hook, that you look like seven shades of hell right now?”

Steve realizes that Tony is right. “Yeah,” he says, and his stomach goes hollow. “I can’t come in looking like this.”

“No,” Tony says, quietly and gentle. “I want you to. God, I want you here right now, but if Arto sees you…”

“I know,” Steve says, and he knows how bitter he sounds but he doesn’t care. “Christ. The one time I actually tell you I got hurt and I can’t even come back to you.”

Tony laughs, a quiet huff of sound over the phone. “Turn video call on,” he says. “Or did Hydra do a number on your pretty face?”

Steve lowers the phone, hits the video button in response. A square box appears on his screen and then Tony’s face appears within, looking tired but smiling quietly.

“Oh wow,” he says. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” Steve scowls. “Aren’t you meant to be nice to me?”

“Whatever gave you that impression?” Tony asks, leaning back against the kitchen counter and sipping from a mug. The late afternoon light is shining golden over his face and Steve aches to reach out and touch, to be there with him in the light and the warmth. “So, this staying behind business sucks.”

“I know, that’s why I don’t do it,” Steve says, eyes fixed on Tony’s. God, he wants to be there so badly he can taste it. Wants to lie out on Tony’s – on their – bed and have Tony stretch out next to him, hands warm on Steve’s skin.

“Don’t expect me to always do the stay-at-home thing,” Tony says, and he sounds casual but he’s deadly serious, looking away for a moment before back up at Steve, eyes intent.

“I don’t,” Steve says. “How is he?”

Tony doesn’t reply straight away. His eyes shift away, presumably looking over the room to where Arto is asleep. “Up and down,” he admits. “Quiet.”

“How up and down?” Steve asks.

“Let’s just say it’s a good idea that you left Barnes behind,” Tony says, rubbing at his jaw.

“Shit,” Steve curses. “I should never have left.”

He registers the words that have just slipped out of his mouth as Tony’s brows go up in surprise and disbelief. “You were just saying you don’t do staying behind. And I’m not trying to be a dick, but you were pretty quick to say you had to leave for this gig.”

“I don’t know,” Steve says unhappily.

“You’re right, you are a mess,” Tony says. “It’s tragic and somehow also makes me more attracted to you.”

“You’re a jerk,” Steve sighs, rubbing the side of his face with his free hand.

“I’m serious,” Tony says, lifting his mug to his mouth again. “The whole brooding, sad thing makes me want to cuddle the shit out of you.”

“You do realize Clint is sitting about six feet away from me?” Steve replies, and Tony just grins.

“Don’t try and stop me,” he says. “You’re two hundred and forty pounds of precious right now.”

“Hanging up now,” Steve informs him.

“No, no, no,” Tony says, and he’s trying not to laugh, and Steve would kill to be there with him, to be able to touch that smile. “Steve, I’m kidding. I’m expressing my genuine concern for you through poorly-pitched jokes.”

“Okay, I’ll take that,” Steve says, and he wants to tell Tony that he loves him. He opens his mouth, closes it again, exhales through his nose. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Waiting impatiently,” Tony says. “Oh, Pepper called by the way."

Steve’s stomach drops. “Ah."

“Yeah,” Tony says, looks down at something. “She isn’t best pleased. About Arto. Or about you, to be honest."

“You told her?”

“Kind of had to.”

“Damnit,” Steve curses. “That’s a hell of a lot to drop on her in one go.”

“Well, apparently she knew we were sleeping together already,” Tony shrugs. “Did not know I’d moved you in with me.”

Steve raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t know I’d moved in with you.”

“Horrid lies,” Tony replies automatically, and then frowns. “Seriously? You didn’t consider us to be moved in together?”

“We lived together anyway,” Steve points out. “We just started sharing a bed. Not exactly your typical moving-in circumstances. I still had my own rooms.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that,” Tony says. “Well, either way. She was pissed. Seems to think that I’m ruining my life just to keep you happy.”

Steve scowls. “You wouldn’t,” he says, and then pauses when Tony just shrugs, mouth turning down contemplatively. “Would you?”

“Possibly,” Tony says with such brutal honesty that Steve feels a momentary urge to end the video call. “Don’t pull that face. I assure you that this time round it’s not for you. I am being utterly selfish. Not saying I wouldn’t another time, though.”

“Don’t say things like that,” Steve says, and Tony’s expression goes hard.

“Why not? Yesterday it was a problem that I wasn’t saying these things to you.”

Steve opens his mouth to argue, and then promptly finds that he doesn't have a leg to stand on, because Tony is completely right.

“You’re right.”

Tony’s mouth hitches in a small smile. “Could get used to hearing that.”

“Not a chance,” Steve says. “Your ego is a dangerous thing at the best of times.”

Tony splays a hand over his heart, mouth open in mock outrage. “How dare you. I am hurt.”

“Nice try,” Steve says. “Where did you leave it with Pepper?”

Tony pulls a face. “Says we need to discuss it face to face,” he says. “Jarvis tells me she’s booked a flight for Tuesday afternoon, so I’ve got three days to come up with an airtight plan for Stark Industries.”

“Need to prove you can still do your thing for Stark Industries whilst being...” Steve begins, trails off, unsure as to what words should go next. “Whilst looking after Arto?”

“Yep,” Tony says. “And yes, I can do both.”

“Without giving up on sleeping and without inventing a time machine?”

“You’re hilarious,” Tony says. “I’m cracking a rib over here. Like some other idiot I know, actually-”

“You’ve already yelled at me about that,” Steve interjects.

“Oh, baby, I haven’t even started,” Tony says, tone threatening for a moment. “Right, I gotta go. No more messing with grappling hooks, young man.”

“I’m twenty-seven, jerk.”

“I stand by it,” Tony says with an easy shrug. “Call me when you’re out of medical.”

“Will do,” Steve says. The call ends, and the screen goes dark. Steve stares at it for a moment and then shuts his eyes, swallowing heavily and leaning forwards to put his head in his hands, not entirely sure if the pain in his chest is completely to do with his injuries or not.

 

* * *

 

It’s just gone eleven when Tony hears footsteps padding softly across the penthouse. There’s a soft knock on the door and then Bucky edges in, shirtless and barefoot. He stays in the doorway, half in and half out, metal fingers curled around the edge of the frame. The light shining from the penthouse beyond means Tony can barely see more than  his silhouette.

Bucky speaks first. “You want me to move him?” he asks without preamble.

Tony looks tiredly at the small figure that’s curled up by his hip, fingers fisted in the hem of Tony’s shirt. He’s fast asleep and has been for just under an hour, still wearing his Captain America pajamas. His breathing is snuffling and uneven, probably a result of spending most of the afternoon crying.

Tony thinks about it. “No,” he says, turning his face back towards Bucky. “He can stay here.”

Bucky just nods, accepting. He steps forwards a little, so Tony can see his face lit by the soft glow of the lamps on either side of the bed. “Get Jarvis to alert me if you need,” he says abruptly. “And Banner says that he’s about if you need him as well.”

Tony nods. “Will do.”

“You still moving him up here tomorrow?"

Tony nods again. “Yeah,” he says. “He’s never going to settle if he’s too far away from Steve.”

“Don’t think it’s just Steve that he needs,” Bucky says pointedly, looking at where Arto is holding onto.

Tony shrugs. “Guess not. I am pretty awesome, I think he’s picked up on that.”

Pushing away from the doorframe, Bucky snorts. “Oh good. For a moment there I was worried that you weren't actually Stark.”

“Says you,” Tony replies. “Who bought him that teddy bear?”

“Fuck you,” Bucky says with a scowl, and then he’s gone without another word. Tony just huffs out a laugh, leaning back against the headboard. The light in the living area of the penthouse turns off, and Tony breathes out into the quiet around them. Everything is still; it feels like the Tower itself is sleeping.

Tony collects up the tablet he’d been working from and drops it on his nightstand, before leaning over to carefully extricate his shirt from Arto’s grip. Arto’s brow screws up and he lets out a sleepy whimper.

“Shhh, shhh,” Tony soothes, gently stroking his hand over Arto’s head. “Just me, brat. Sleep.”

Arto exhales heavily and then settles again. God, the expression on his face reminds Tony of when Steve used to have nightmares, how he’d wake confused and panicked and then be soothed back to sleep by Tony’s hands and softly murmured words.

Tony presses his lips together, hard. He may have told Bucky that keeping Arto here for the night was for Arto’s sake, but he knows that it wasn't purely an altruistic move on his part. He misses Steve in a way he never has before, and it’s left him feeling raw and vulnerable. Having even a tiny piece of Steve here with him helps soothe the jagged edges, but that in turn comes with a side-order of guilt because he knows full well that he shouldn’t be using Arto just to deal with his conflicted emotions about Steve.

 _Fuck it,_ he thinks as he climbs carefully off the bed, going to the wardrobe to find a pair of pajama pants and a tank top to sleep in. Tony doesn't want to be alone, Arto won’t be alone, so this is the best solution for everyone.

He gets ready for bed, determinedly not thinking about how it would feel to have Steve here with him. It’s the stupid simple things that seem to be the hardest to think about, like having Steve knocking his elbow against Tony’s as he brushes his teeth, like how he always screws one eye tightly shut when he yawns.

Turning into a sap, Stark, he tells himself as he shuts off the lights and walks around the bed to gently pull a blanket over Arto. He walks around to climb back into bed his side, slipping under the covers and staring up at the dark ceiling for a moment before turning his head to watch the easy rise and fall of Arto’s chest.

He watches for long minutes, the restlessness inside his chest and the frenetic rush of thoughts in his mind gradually easing. Eventually, even though he still feels Steve’s absence like an actual injury, he finds himself sufficiently calmed by the small presence at his side to let go of some of the burdens he feels and slowly slide into sleep.

* * *

 

Medical is hell.

Four different SHIELD medics swing by to ‘assess’ Steve’s injuries, and when a fifth turns up he snaps and tells them to get out. The first medic returns in short order, looking exasperated and apologizing for the fact that apparently everyone wants the opportunity to treat Captain America. It’s not because he’s Captain America, the medic assures him as he manhandles Steve into place for an X-ray, it’s just that it’s pretty neat to be able to see such extensive injuries heal so rapidly.

Steve thinks that anyone who uses the word ‘neat’ about his extensive injuries, and in front of him to boot, should not be allowed to be a SHIELD medic.

It’s six X-rays, one CT scan, twenty minutes of poking prodding and one refused blood test later that Steve is told that yes, he has a fractured sternum, and that he shouldn’t try moving for a while. He’s lying on his back with several ice packs lying across his chest which aren’t helping him feel at ease. He’s about at his limit and is seriously considering getting up and leaving when the door opens and Clint walks in, slamming it behind him.

“I have a concussion,” he announces with a disdainful roll of his eyes. “Like there’s ever been a point in my career as an Avenger where I haven’t had a concussion.”

He throws himself onto the empty bed that’s near the window, lying back with his arm across his eyes and the other dangling off the edge of the bed.

“Shouldn’t sleep if you’re concussed,” Steve says, turning his head to look at him.

“Beckett says you broke your sternum. Are your internal organs mush?” Clint replies, ignoring Steve’s comment about his concussion.

“No, my internal organs are fine,” Steve says. “Just a fracture and some bruising.”

“When can you go home?” Clint asks, sitting up and swinging his legs around, leaning back on his fists and swinging his feet.

“When I don’t look like I’ve gone a round with Thanos,” Steve says, blinking up at the ceiling. “Can’t have Arto seeing me beat to hell.”

Clint looks over at him, visibly surprised. “Yeah,” he says, and nods, the surprised expression turning faintly impressed. “Must suck not being able to get back?”

“Yeah,” Steve admits, and it’s true but he didn’t think it would be this hard. He shifts, goes to put his arm up behind his head as a pillow but has to give up, the pull on his chest too uncomfortable. “You still haven’t told me how you managed to survive that fall.”

Clint shrugs. “Shot a line into the bottom of the jet. Nearly ripped my arms out their sockets, but I just swung down and landed in the river. Knocked the breath out of me, but we weren’t really that high." 

“Jesus,” Steve says. “I’m seconding Natasha by the way. Actually, I’m considering making you wear a parachute at all times.”

Clint rolls his eyes. “You never wear a chute.”

“I’m less breakable than you,” Steve points out. “And I jump without a chute. I don’t fall.”

“Course, Captain America never does anything as asinine as falling,” Clint says, and then looks over. “Sorry. About that. The whole, falling out of the doors, thing. I didn’t mean to.”

Steve sighs. “I know you didn’t,” he says, the brittle edges in his chest softening. “We worried. We thought we’d lost you.”

“Oh please,” Clint says. “If I die it’s going to be from ignoring expiration dates on things in the refrigerator. Nothing as cool as falling from a speeding jet whilst battling Agents of Hydra.”

“You’re neither as dumb nor tragic as you make out,” Steve says.

“What’s that?” Clint says. “Sorry, didn’t catch that. Too busy being dumb and tragic.”

Steve shakes his head, exasperated.  “Why are you still here anyway? Avoiding going back to the tower?”

“No,” Clint says, and pauses. “Little bit. He won’t be too mad, right? I’m not exactly hurt.”

Steve just shakes his head. “For whatever reason, Bucky has decided that he is going to mother-hen you. Seeing as a couple of years ago I didn’t think he’d ever act like Bucky again, you can suck it up and let him do it, thanks.”

“You’re not the one who has to put up with it!”

Steve snorts. “No, I have to put up with Tony,” he says. “Who seems to swing violently between blaming me for getting hurt, and blaming himself for either not being there to stop it, or not giving me an upgraded whatever which may have increased my chance of avoiding injury by point two percent.”

“Fair point,” Clint concedes. “You two show your love for each other in weird ways.”

“Not all that weird,” Steve says, and Clint makes a gagging noise. “Shut up, Clint.”

Clint grins, obviously not too concussed to be acting like a nuisance. “Hey, why did you two never say anything?” he asks suddenly. “Like, it was pretty obvious that you were together.”

Steve shrugs, drumming his fingers against his stomach. “Didn’t feel the need.”

“Gonna go public?” Clint asks.

Steve stills at the question, contemplative. “Never thought about it,” he admits, and his mind is already restlessly turning over the possible consequences, debating if they have to go public or if they can keep it hidden, contemplating the impact it will have on Arto if they do or don’t. “It depends on Arto.”

“It does?”

Steve nods. “Depends on what we’re telling him,” he says.

“The whole baby daddy issue?” Clint asks, and Steve’s so tired that he just nods. “Well he knows you’re his dad. Well, he thinks you are, anyway.”

Steve sits up, hissing in pain at the sharp movement. He shoves the ice-packs away; one falls to the floor but he barely notices. “What?”

Clint scratches the back of his head, looking confused. “Bro, it’s kind of obvious. You look the same.”

“He thinks I’m his dad?”

“He _knows_ you’re his dad,” Clint frowns. “You can’t lie to him about that, he’s not going to buy it.”

“Has he said something to you?” Steve demands.

Clint holds his hands up. “He just – he asked who my Dad was, and I told him he was dead, and he just nodded and then he said your name, and then said Dad. He didn’t sound sure though, if that means anything.”

Steve’s mouth is hanging open. “Shit,” he says. “ _Shit_.”

Clint looks alarmed. “Why shit? Don’t look like that! Are you seriously telling me you thought he wouldn’t add it up? You look _exactly the same._ ”

“I don’t,” Steve begins, stops. “God, I didn’t actually think there was any more ways in which I could mess this up.”

“You haven’t messed it up-”

“Arto thinks I’m his dad and I’ve done _nothing_ to acknowledge that,” Steve bites out. “He has been dragged from one dimension to another, dropped in the middle of the chaos that is our lives and the one thing he latches onto is me, and all I do is run away from him-”

“You ran away once,” Clint says, pauses. “Well, twice if you count this mission.”

A frustrated noise catches in the back of Steve’s throat and he slumps back onto the bed, reaching up to grip his hair in his hands. He presses his lips together because blurting out everything he’s feeling is really not his style. Well, unless it’s aimed at Bucky, but like they said before, Bucky has been dealing with Steve’s crummy emotions since nineteen twenty-eight so he should be used to it.

“Well, I’m going to go and find some food,” Clint says, breaking the silence in a play almost as awkward as the actual moment of repose. “You want in?”

Steve blinks at the ceiling, decides that he can’t be mad at Clint about this. Hell, Clint is pretty much Arto’s voice in this whole mess, right? Steve can’t blame him for communicating what Arto has said. He could blame Clint for not telling him straight away that the small child he’s considering adopting already thinks that Steve is his dad, but he doesn’t quite trust his voice or his temper.

“So, you definitely not going back to the tower?” Steve finally asks.

“Nah,” Clint says easily, and he walks over and bends down to pick up the ice pack that has fallen to the floor. He holds it out and Steve takes it with a nod, laying it back over his sternum. “If I turn up without you I’ll have Tony and Barnes both giving me the evil eye.”

“I don’t need babysitting,” Steve interrupts, lifting a brow.

“I know,” Clint says, rolling his eyes. “Jesus. Can you just let me be nice without turning it into a big thing by being too Captain-y to accept the niceness?”

Steve lifts an arm up over his face, forearm over his eyes. “Go and find me a pizza,” Steve says, and Clint just snorts with laughter and walks away, his footsteps fading down the corridor and leaving the room quiet as the door swings shut again.

Turning his head to the side, Steve locates his phone on the tray next to the bed and reaches out for it. He turns it on, finds two text messages from Bucky; one says _‘you owe me fifty thousand favors’_ , and a second that says that says _‘tell the shield guy with the stick up his ass to give Barton his phone back.’_ There’s also a message from Tony that says _‘just seen your X-rays and I’m going to kill you._ ’ He doesn’t know how the hell Tony has managed to see his X-rays, because he’s certainly not stupid enough to send them to Tony himself.

He closes the messages without replying to any of them, presses his phone against his mouth, thinking hard. Long moments later, he slowly lowers it away from his face and open his received media folder.

It doesn’t take him long to find the picture of Arto that Tony sent him, the snapshot of him leaning against the window with his palms pressed against the glass, face scrunched up in a confused frown. The last time Steve had looked at the picture he’d wanted to throw his phone out of the back of the jet because he didn’t even want to know. Now, he looks at it and the fear starts to rise in his chest again, but this time it’s because that small figure that looks so much like him is counting on him as a parent, and Steve is going to accept that that’s what he is now.

He strokes his thumb over the picture, swallows. He shifts restlessly, pressing his fingers lightly against his aching sternum and he wonders if he’s ever going to actually feel like he can do this right.


	12. Chapter 12

Steve leaves medical just before lunch on Tuesday morning, after the longest forty-eight hours of his life. His chest no longer feels like it’s tearing in two every time he moves, the marks from the grappling hook have all but gone and the minor scrapes he had from being blown through the wall are also all healed. The poor medic left in charge of him is adamant that he needs to stay in until the fracture in his chest is completely healed, but Steve just shoots them an unimpressed look, picks up his shield and follows Clint out of the building without looking back and without signing any damn paperwork.

There’s a car waiting for them, a large black SUV being driven by Maria Hill. Steve doesn’t particularly like SHIELD trying to muscle in on what the Avengers do, but today he’s just grateful that he can get straight in and be driven away from medical without having to wait at all. Hill looks tense, her whole frame set rigidly and her face impassive, though she’s like that a lot of the time so Steve doesn’t read too much into it.

“Coulson and Widow are scheduled to leave in three hours,” she says curtly as Steve climbs into the front, setting his shield against his legs. “We’re going to do preliminary debrief before they get back.”

“Okay,” Steve replies, phone in one hand as he buckles up with the other. He fires off a quick text to Tony and Bucky: _‘Me and Clint leaving medical. Hill driving us back.’_

“What’s with the chauffer service?” Clint asks as he slams the back door, leaning forwards and swinging on the back of Steve’s seat, wrapping his arms around the headrest so Steve can't sit back properly. “Did you get demoted?”

“We’re having debrief at the Tower, Fury cleared it with Stark,” Hill says, and looks pointedly at him. “And I hear you’re doing exceptionally well at falling from moving vehicles again. Put your seatbelt on.”

“I’m not five,” Clint says, though he does sit back, pushing his sunglasses back up his nose and folding his arms across his chest.

“We know,” Hill says impatiently. “Belt, Hawkeye. Or I will ask Captain Rogers to knock you out.”

“I’ll do it,” Steve says, looking up from his phone. Bucky has just text him back, saying _‘oh good I missed you more than life itself.’_

“Traitor,” Clint sighs, but does belt up. “Happy now?”

“Ecstatic,” Hill says dryly, and puts the SUV in gear. The drive back is uneventful and quiet; Steve’s mind is on Arto and Tony, the ache in his chest which he’s now sure isn’t his broken sternum but the need to get back to them. As he watches the suburbs of New York give way to the high-rises of Manhattan, he keeps trying to turn his mind back to the mission. If he’s headed to debrief then that’s where his head needs to be, not worrying about how pissed Tony is going to be at him.

It’s almost impossible to do.

The traffic is hell, and it’s over an hour later that they finally get the SUV into the parking garage of Avengers Tower. Clint is out of the back before it’s even fully stopped, bow in his hand and quiver on his back. Steve privately thinks that’s he’s going to need it, if he’s got any intention of telling Bucky what happened.

“Conference floor,” Hill says as he climbs out of the car and slams the door. “Fury is waiting.”

“Yeah, got somewhere else to be first,” Steve says, shield in his hand as he shoulders the door shut. “Ten minutes.”

Hill narrows her eyes at him but then nods. “Okay,” she says, and heads over to the elevator, calling back over her shoulder as she goes. “I’ll meet you there." 

“Do I have to come to debrief?” Clint asks half-heartedly as the elevator doors close.

“Yes,” Steve replies, slipping his phone into his pocket. Tony hasn’t acknowledged his message, and Steve wants to find him as soon as he possibly can. “If I have to go, you have to go.”

“Maybe I should let Bucky murder me,” Clint says glumly.

“You tell him what happened and he’ll probably force you to attend debrief and _then_ murder you,” Steve says conversationally as they wait for the second elevator to get down to the garage.

“And Tony will definitely murder you,” Clint says, and claps Steve on the shoulder. “Well, it was nice knowing you.”

The elevator arrives and they get in side by side. Clint has his phone in hand and is frowning down at it, and though his expression is obscured somewhat by his sunglasses, his apprehension is clear. Steve thinks back but he can’t ever recall being genuinely concerned that Bucky was going to be seriously mad at him for getting hurt, not even when he was ninety pounds soaking wet and spent most of his free time being beaten up. It was more exasperated fondness and protectiveness with Bucky, nothing like what he gets from Tony these days.

Clint stops the elevator on his floor and waves his hand at Steve in a half-hearted goodbye as he steps halfway out.

“Have you told him yet?” Steve asks, and Clint glances at his phone.

“I just text him,” he says. “He knew I’d got hurt but I may have down-played it a bit. Okay, I may have downplayed it a lot."

Steve winces. “And you just told him now? Probably not your best move,” he says. Clint opens his mouth, but before he can formulate a response there’s a furious bellow from somewhere down the corridor.

 _“You fucking did what?!”_  

Steve promptly reaches out and slaps his palm over the door close button. “Shouldn’t have fallen out of the jet,” he says, and shoves Clint the rest of the way out of the doors, just before they close.

“Captain America is a heartless jerk!” Clint manages to yell before the doors seal shut, and the elevator starts moving again. Steve shakes his head and leans back against the wall, not feeling guilty in the slightest. He doesn’t think for a moment that Bucky will actually hurt Clint; he’ll yell and rant for a while, then he’ll insist on checking him over for injuries, and then probably force a load of advil down his throat before making him lie down for a bit. Besides, if a chewing out from Bucky is enough to stop Clint being quite so reckless with his own personal safety, Steve considers leaving Clint at Bucky’s mercy to be for his own good.

He gets out on the communal floor, finds it empty. It smells of coffee though and there’s a half-eaten sandwich and green smoothie on the counter, so he doesn’t think Tony is too far away. He fully expects Jarvis to tell Tony where he is anyway, so he just walks over to the counter and puts his shield down, running his palm absently over the warm metal.

“Should you be here?” a familiar voice calls out barely ten seconds later, and Steve turns around to see Tony striding across the floor towards him. He’s wearing dark grey jeans and a white t-shirt, and his eyes are bright and alert, looking over Steve suspiciously like he expects to see bandages or blood.

“Nice to see you too,” Steve says flatly, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back against the counter. He’s not going to lie; he and Tony will never be the most romantic or sentimental of couples but he expected more than that as a welcome back.

“So if you’re all better you won’t mind if I do this,” Tony says flippantly, and he walks right up to him and jabs Steve in the chest with a finger. It hurts a little, like pressing on a bad bruise, but Steve manages to keep his face impassive, raising an eyebrow at Tony. 

“You quite finished?”

“Nope,” Tony says and goes to poke him again. Steve moves quicker; he grabs Tony’s wrist and moves his hand aside, and when Tony glares and goes to jab him with his other hand he grabs that one too.

“Jesus, Tony, stop,” Steve says. “I’m alright.”

“Why is it always you?” Tony asks, voice angry and fierce and low, and Steve realizes that the flippancy is a cover – and not a good one this time – for all the fear and anxiety that Tony’s sitting on.

Steve leans in and kisses him, hard enough to steal his words and make his breath audibly catch in his chest. Tony strains against his grip but Steve doesn’t let go, just brings Tony’s hands in so they’re pressed together between their chests. There’s a moment where he thinks Tony is going to twist his way free, but then he goes lax against Steve, kissing him and kissing him, open mouthed and hot-

He lets go of Tony’s wrists, slides one hand onto his shoulders, the other hand onto the side of his neck. Tony shudders under his touch and his hands slide around Steve’s sides, hooking under his arms, palms splaying out on his back.

“You absolute-” Tony begins, but Steve doesn’t want to hear it. He knows, this time he really knows. Getting hurt is something that he can’t just brush off because it’s not just about him anymore. He’s got responsibilities outside of being Captain America; huge, daunting responsibilities-

“Stop it,” Tony says, though he kisses Steve between each word. “You’re – you’re distracting me from yelling-”

“Yes I am,” Steve breathes against his mouth, and then he twists them both around so he can press Tony backwards, sending him stumbling back until his spine bumps against the counter. Tony grunts in surprise, but his hands are on Steve’s waist, pulling him flush against him. Steve goes willingly, wanting only to be wrapped up in Tony’s arms for the foreseeable future, not wanting to have to go anywhere else at all, ever.  There’s a twisted knot of emotion that feels a lot like guilt sitting in his chest, and he hates it, wishes he could physically yank it free, but every time he thinks of Tony or Arto at home without him, it intensifies. He kisses Tony hard enough to make him sway back a little, hand tightening on his shoulder-

Tony breaks away from him. “Jesus, Steve,” Tony manages to say, and this time he doesn’t let Steve lean back in to kiss him. Instead, he pulls Steve in closer, holding his head against his shoulder. He’s obviously noticed Steve’s turmoil, because he just stands there, chest rising and falling as he catches his breath, the fingers of one hand stroking gently over the back of Steve’s neck.

Steve lets out a shuddering breath, slipping his arms around Tony’s waist. “Sorry,” he makes himself say.

“Shut up,” Tony replies evenly. “But stop with the doing that to avoid talking to me. It’s a dirty trick and I’m both appalled and proud that you keep using it.”

Steve laughs shortly, face still pressed into the warm skin of Tony’s neck. Tony sighs, lifting his other hand to stroke over the back of Steve’s head. “What’s gotten into you? Not having another spectacular bout of denial about Arto?”

“No,” Steve replies, but it’s actually the opposite, really. “I don’t know.”

“Let me knows when you work it out,” Tony says, and then he pauses. “I’m glad you’re home.”

“What, so you can yell at me face to face?” Steve asks tiredly, and Tony laughs.

“Yes,” he says, but then he eases Steve’s head up off his shoulder, a hand cupping his jaw. “But also just glad that you’re home.”

Throat feeling tight, Steve nods. He leans in to kiss Tony but this time it’s softer, gentler. Tony hums appreciatively in the back of his throat, nudges his nose against Steve’s as he draws back. “I’m all up for the kissing, I think there needs to be more of that in the not too distant future, but there is a small child who knows you are back and wants to see you.”

Steve’s stomach swoops. “Yeah,” he says, and he feels faintly nervous under the more prominent sense of relief. “Is he in the penthouse?”

“Yeah,” Tony says. “We set him up in there, moved a bed up. Not in our room,” he adds hastily as Steve’s expression goes pained. “In the lounge. You’ll see.”

Steve nods and he steps back, allowing Tony to move away from the counter. Together, they walk to the elevator, standing side by side as they go up to the penthouse. Steve can’t help but drum his fingers against his elbow, needing to see Arto to reassure himself that he’s okay, that Steve hasn’t fucked up by leaving him-

“So on the subject of morons that can’t keep out of trouble,” Tony says, phone in his hand. “I see Barton managed to top his usual falling from buildings stunt in spectacular style.”

“Don’t joke about it,” Steve replies, not even bothering to ask whose conversation or what files Tony has decided to hack into to get that information. “I thought he was dead.”

“Please, I’m pretty sure that that man has rendered himself indestructible somehow. Maybe he ate something radioactive without noticing.”

Steve laughs shortly. “Probably,” he says. “He was scouting out the back of the jet and we were hit. He wasn’t wearing his chute.”

“If you dare say that’s your fault, you will be sleeping on the couch later,” Tony threatens mildly.

“It was his fault for not wearing a chute,” Steve says, though he silently thinks that as mission lead, he should have told Clint to wear the damn thing before opening the back of the jet. “He turned up just in time to drag me out of the river.”

Tony pauses. “The grappling hook incident?”

“If he hadn’t have done it, I probably would have drowned,” Steve says without thinking, realizing a second later what he’s done. Shit. He turns his head to look at Tony, but Tony is staring down at his phone, mouth set in a tight line.

“Probably would have drowned,” he repeats in a voice forced to be casual and light. “Oh. Wow.”

“Tony,” he begins.

“You should know this by now, but in light of recent events I’m going to say it out loud,” Tony interrupts him.  “It’s not just because of Arto that the thought of anything happening to you makes me want to kill you. Which is counterproductive, I know, but if you could refrain from nearly dying every time you go on a mission my heart would greatly appreciate it.”

Steve opens his mouth to argue, to point out that he doesn’t particularly enjoy getting hurt, but he doesn’t. He knows that that isn’t what Tony needs, what he wants to hear. So he bites back all the defensive words, and leans over to pull Tony around by his shoulder.

“Got it,” he says, and leans in to kiss him. Tony looks surprised but it quickly fades as he reaches up to brush his knuckles against Steve’s cheek.

“Thank you,” he murmurs. “Hey, I think we’re getting the hang of this.”

“Moment. Speaks for itself,” Steve says, exasperated, and Tony smiles crookedly at him.

The elevator doors open and Steve feels the anticipation spike in his gut. Before he’s even moved he notices the space that’s been created for Arto in the corner of the penthouse, tucked in a corner against the floor to ceiling window and the wall to Steve and Tony’s room. There’s a bed with pale blue sheets, a wardrobe and chest of drawers, even a small desk and bookshelf. It’s sectioned off from the rest of the penthouse area by the arrangement of the furniture and the couch that Steve had originally moved into their room. There are toys and books everywhere, shoes strewn haphazardly over the floor.

Without waiting, he steps forwards, and his eyes immediately find Arto. He isn’t in his corner of the room; he’s sat on the larger couch with Bucky Bear tucked under his arm, staring at his feet. He’s out of the Captain America pajamas, and is wearing blue jeans and a purple T-shirt, feet clad in bright orange socks. 

The first thing to hit Steve is a heady sense of relief, because it’s completely different hearing that someone is okay to seeing it with your own eyes. The second thing is a strange anxiousness, because he’s been apart from Arto and Tony had said that he’d had a rough time, and Steve doesn’t know how he’s going to behave right now. The third is a strange sense of something he can't quite pinpoint, because in the back of his mind are Clint’s words about Arto’s perceptions of him, and he can't help but wonder if Arto is going to look up at him and think _‘dad.’_

He takes a steadying breath. “Hey,” Steve calls, and Tony brushes his hand over Steve’s back as he walks past, going over to the coffee table and picking up what looks like an errant red sweater, tossing it over his shoulder. Steve steps forwards without even consciously deciding to do so.

Arto’s head snaps up. He looks at Steve and his face crumples, forehead creasing and bottom lip wobbling dangerously. He makes a jerky, aborted movement, and for one moment Steve thinks that Arto is about to run and fling himself into Steve’s arms-

Arto bolts.

He scrambles off the side of the couch and runs away from Steve and into his corner, throwing himself onto his bed, face down. Confused, Steve looks over to Tony who is standing by the couch, looking just as startled.

“Hey, Smart Art,” Tony calls, frowning. “Steve is back.”

“No,” Arto shouts, words muffled into his blankets. “Can _fuck off._ ”

The words are like a punch to the gut, angry and full of venom. “What,” Steve begins, not sure if he just heard right, even though he knows he did. He takes another step over towards Arto’s corner. “Arto?”

“No,” Arto shouts, and he sits up and hurls a pillow haphazardly in Steve’s general direction. “Go _away_.”

“What the actual fuck,” Tony breathes, and then raises his voice. “Art, he’s come back to see you-”

“Fuck off!” Arto shouts again, his voice rising to a scream, and his eyes are full of angry tears. He looks around wildly, and then slips off the bed, stooping down to grab a shoe. It sails across the room, and this time Steve has to step to the side to avoid it hitting him in the face.

“Hey, no throwing stuff,” Tony says in shock, and strides over. “What are you playing at? You’ve done nothing but mope about Steve for the past three days-”

“No,” Arto screams. “Don’t want Steve, don’t need Steve-”

Steve just stands there. He stares at Arto, gut twisting in a new awkward way that’s possibly more painful than anything he’s ever felt, up to and including that time he worked out that Bucky was the soldier that was trying to kill him. Blinking, he holds out a hand. “I’m back now, I said I’d come back-”

“Don’t need you, you fucking shit,” Arto screams, and stoops to grab another shoe. He hurls it towards Steve and then kicks the couch, shoving it back across the carpet a foot and a half. “Go away.”

“Steve, I think you should go,” Tony says, eyes on Arto and full of confusion.

“But,” Steve begins, swallowing and feeling utterly lost. “No-”

“Steve, just go,” Tony says, sounding strained. “Please. He’s been restrained three times whilst you’ve been gone and I really don’t think I can handle seeing a fourth.”

Steve hears just how wrecked Tony is, and immediately takes a step back. He doesn’t want to go, and he knows it’s all backwards because before he would have found any excuse to stay away -

“Steve,” Tony pleads, as Arto shouts again, a rush of chopped up words and curses that are twisted with tears-

Steve steps back again. He takes one slow, faltering step back, then another. Tony is walking over to Arto who throws himself back down on the bed, sobbing hard enough that he’s coughing. Helpless, Steve watches for a moment and then as Tony reaches Arto and sits down on the edge of the bed, he turns around and leaves. Arto’s sobs echo in his ears, the rest of the world white noise around him.

Utterly bewildered, he steps into the elevator and goes down to the communal area. He feels oddly betrayed, and it doesn’t make any sense. He never asked for Arto to become attached to him, he wasn’t the one who grew attached to Arto, but now here he is faced with Arto suddenly not wanting anything to do with him and it feels awful, a hollow numbness in his gut, a new type of fear that he’s never felt before-

“Hey, welcome back! How was - Steve?”

He looks up to see Bucky standing beside the couch, mug in hand and looking concerned. Steve faintly registers a sense of relief that Bucky is there, but it’s barely a pinprick of emotion under the sheer weight of the confusion he feels. He watches, feeling oddly detached, as Bucky steps over, forehead creasing in a frown.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Steve says without thinking, voice catching. He clears his throat, shakes his head and tries again. “Nothing.”

“Bullshit, nothing,” Bucky frowns, and walks over. “What’s just happened? Did Stark say something? If he’s giving you a hard time about going I’m gonna-”

“Arto told me to fuck off,” Steve says, and Bucky abruptly stops talking.

“He told _you_ to fuck off?” he asks, confused. “What?”

“I went up, and he flipped out,” Steve says, voice hollow to his own ears. “Shouted, screamed. Said he didn’t want me. Told me to fuck off.”

“Oh, man,” Bucky says, and reaches out, grasping Steve’s shoulder with his metal hand. “Hey, don’t sweat it. He’s said worse to me in the past coupla days, way worse. He’s probably just pissed that you left, he’s had a pretty shit time since you went,” he says. “I dunno, he probably thinks-” He breaks off, breathes out as he thinks, biting on his bottom lip. “Oh hell, I don’t know. Ask Barton. He probably knows what’s going on in that kid’s head.”

Steve shakes his head slowly. “He didn’t-” he starts to say, but he can’t get the words out. He can’t even properly formulate the thought _‘he didn’t even say hello, he didn’t even want me there, he didn’t even want me to come back,’_ so he doesn’t dare try and shape the words out loud. He clears his throat, takes a deep steadying breath and forces himself to follow the threads of the conversation.

“Where is Clint?”

“Barton? Gone to debrief,” Bucky says offhandedly.  “They’re waiting for you on fifty-eight. You want me to go and make an excuse for you?”

“No,” Steve says as if an autopilot, because going back upstairs is not an option, and because of that he feels himself retreating back into Captain Mode, shoving away all of his personal feelings and thoughts in order to get a mission done. It’s a monumental effort and he’s not sure it’s going to hold, but he does it anyway. He blows out a breath and pulls himself together, because Tony is the one sorting Arto out, and right now this is what is important for him to be involved with, the mission and the intel about Hydra.

“Okay,” Bucky concedes easily. “You want me to come with?”

Steve’s mouth is ready to say no again, but Bucky’s hand is still a comforting grip on his shoulder and he still feels rather out of sorts. He’s smart enough to know that Fury and Hill will easily spot that he’s not one hundred percent focused, and having Bucky at his side will help.

“Yes,” he says, and pauses. “Don’t let me lose my shit with Fury.”

“Yes, Captain America, Sir,” Bucky says, snapping his heels together and saluting.

“Jerk,” Steve says, but reaches out to clap Bucky on the cheek, shaking his head gently from side to side. “Come on.”

Together they walk to debrief, Bucky following half a step behind Steve like some sort of menacing, supportive shadow. He’s got his arms folded across his chest even as he walks, face set in his usual sullen scowl, the one that Fury not-so fondly refers to as the _‘most belligerent damn face I’ve ever seen on a grown man, and that’s not a compliment, Barnes.’_ Steve wonders if he’s got any weapons on him, but a voice in the back of his mind vehemently hopes that Bucky isn’t armed, because he’s spent the last three days helping to look after a kid.

“Head in the game, Rogers,” Bucky says, nudging Steve with his elbow as he reaches out to push the door open, letting Steve through first before following on his heels.

Just as Steve expected, Fury is already there, sitting in one of the leather chairs and leaning back indolently, face impassive. Hill is standing behind another chair, impatient. Clint is sprawled out on the soft couch that’s over by the windows, and Steve doesn’t know if he’s boycotting the table purposefully or just being lazy. He’s got his head tipped back against the cushions and he’s holding an ice-pack to his mouth.

“Glad you could join us, Captain,” Fury says, and Steve glances over and then back to Clint who looks up and gives him a half-hearted wave, face still half obscured by the ice-pack.

“What happened?” Steve asks warily.

Clint just points at Bucky. Steve turns around to look at Bucky, eyebrows raised.

“Punched him in the mouth,” Bucky shrugs, folding his arms across his chest.

“You _what?”_

“You’re an asshole,” Clint scowls, words muffled by the ice-pack.

Bucky points a metal finger accusatorily at him, and Steve rapidly reassess his earlier conclusion that Bucky wouldn’t really hurt Clint as Bucky snarls, “You fell out of a jet!”

“Not on purpose!”

“Well, you must be a real dumb shit to accidentally fall out of a jet!”

“As touching as this reunion is,” Fury calls over them, loud and unimpressed. They both stop yelling at each other in favor of glaring at Fury instead, identical looks of distaste and annoyance on their faces. Steve is already privately regretting bringing Bucky to debrief. “Barnes, why are you even here?”

“To make sure Barton doesn’t fall out of the window,” Bucky shoots back. Clint gives him the finger.

“This is a classified meeting,” Hill says.

“I’ve got clearance,” Bucky says, and steps past Steve and pulls out a chair, flopping down into it and sending her a winning smile, the one that used to guarantee him a dance with pretty much anyone he fancied. All it does today is make Hill’s lip curl slightly, obviously not at all impressed.

“You do not have clearance for the current-”

Fury waves a hand. “Seeing as I’m completely sure that one of these two tell him everything anyway, you might as well leave him be,” he says to Hill, who looks like she wants to protest for a moment before giving up and nodding curtly. “Captain, take a seat.”

Steve pulls out the chair next to Bucky, slowly sitting down. He still has the nagging feeling that this isn’t where he should be, but that’s just because of Arto telling him to fuck off, right? If Arto had been fine when Steve had returned, surely Steve wouldn’t be thinking twice about where he should be?

“So, I hear you had an interesting trip,” Fury says, and Steve refocuses on the conversation.

“Not exactly the word I’d use,” Steve says slowly. “We nearly lost a team member.”

“More than one by the sounds of things,” Fury says pointedly, and Bucky turns the dirty look he’d been giving Clint on Steve.

“In our defense, it was fucked when we got there,” Clint calls over, the words thick and still partly muffled by the ice-pack.

“I know, I know,” Fury says, waving a hand and sounding somewhere between apologetic and irritated. “I did have some faith that between them Shipman and Sitwell could keep it all under control.”

“If under control means on fire then they did a great job,” Clint says, and Bucky chokes on a laugh, hastily turning it into a cough as Hill narrows her eyes at him.

“The shortcomings of SHIELD Agents aside,” Fury says, pointedly ignoring the pair of them. “I hear you found something interesting, Cap.”

“Heard how?” Steve asks, because the only person he’s actually showed the images to is Tony, and he knows for a fact that Tony would never share anything that Steve sent him with SHIELD.

“Coulson,” Fury says, and he nods over to Hill who starts tapping atop the table, opening up the holoscreens that are installed there and delving rapidly through folders. “He and Widow found the wreckage of the lab that caught your attention. You think they’re trying to recreate Project Rebirth.”

“They’re doing _what?”_ Bucky asks loudly, sitting up hurriedly.

Steve presses his fingers to his mouth, apologetically glancing at Bucky. “Looks that way,” he admits.

“What, cloning?” Clint asks, twisting around and sitting up as well. He lowers the ice pack, revealing a pretty impressive split lip, already swollen and bruised.

“No, like what they did to me and Buck,” Steve says, grateful that Clint was smart enough not to mention Arto and cloning in the same sentence in front of Fury. He leans back to take his phone from his pocket. “An adult-sized chamber, all hooked up ready to go.”

He opens his phone, flicks to the images he’d taken. Sliding his phone across the table to Fury, he watches carefully for any reaction. Fury just picks up the phone and stares at the picture for several long seconds.

“Well, that’s confirmed what we thought,” he says. “Not good news, Cap.”

“You’re telling me,” Steve says, and takes the phone back. Bucky holds his hand out and Steve passes the phone over without a second-thought. Hill’s expression goes pained.

“Have you shared those images with anyone else?” she asks.

“No,” Steve lies, looking around as Clint walks up, leaning on the back of Bucky’s chair with his forearms braced on the leather. He ducks his head down, resting his chin atop Bucky’s head as he peers down at the photos. “That’s what they steroided you up in?” he asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Mine was shinier,” Steve tells him, and Bucky snorts with laughter. “There was equipment as well. Some of it looked familiar, but I couldn’t tell you what it was called. One piece looked like a double ended microscope-”

Clint lifts away from Bucky, though remains leaning on the back of the chair. “A spectrometer,” he says, and everyone stares at him.

“Say that again?” Bucky says, frowning.

Clint shrugs. “The shiny metal thing on a big round base?” he asks, twirling a finger around. “A spectrometer. Bruce has one. I also noticed one in a lab on the south side of the complex.”

“I told you you’re not as stupid as you make out to be,” Bucky says, and Clint pulls a face.

“People keep saying that, it needs to stop or else everyone’ll end up with higher expectations of me than I’m comfortable with.”

“Here,” Hill says, and with a deft flick of her fingers, several images appear on screens in midair, projected from the surface of the table. There are pictures of the complex, the laboratories inside. Most of them are halfway destroyed; Steve spots a snapshot of the same chamber he took a photo of, now blackened and burnt and buried under what looks like half the ceiling.

“That’s it,” he says, reaching out and enlarging the image.

“Fucking bastards,” Bucky curses as Steve twists the image around so he can see it. “That’s halfway to a cryo-chamber.”

“Could they make a machine that does both?” Clint asks. “Makes super-soldiers and then keeps them on ice until they’re needed?”

“We don't know what they can do,” Fury says. “But the amount of work it would take to combine both projects is astronomical.”

“There’s only been one instance of rebirth working,” Hill begins.

“One and a half if you count Barnes,” Clint says, and Bucky nods, looking up at Clint.

“One and three quarters if you count Banner.”

“Seriously? You class that as working?”

“And there’s only been two known cases of people building cryo-chambers to hold people in for extended periods of time,” Hill interrupts, continuing where she left off before Bucky and Clint interrupted. “The one found by the X-men last year, and the one used in the Winter Soldier project.”

Bucky opens his mouth - probably to object to Hill referring to him as the ‘Winter Soldier project’ but he’s distracted by Steve’s phone buzzing in his hand, loud against his metal fingertips. He immediately holds it out; Steve takes it with a grateful nod, and he falters as he sees a message from Tony.

 _‘stopped swearing, still says he hates you, is asking where you went.’_  

Steve looks up at Fury and then back down to his phone, feeling his stomach tighten and something urgent trying to make itself known. ‘Tell him I’m still here,’ he quickly replies.

“Do you need a moment, Captain?” 

Fury’s voice is carefully neutral. Steve hits send, drops his phone back to the table. “No,” he says, shaking his head and resisting the urge to pick up his phone and call Tony right away.

Fury looks at him for a few seconds, and then away at the holoscreens again. Steve doesn't know if he’s satisfied with his response, or if he’s filing away everything Steve does for later consideration. Knowing Fury, it’s the latter.

“That base you took out yesterday was the fourth, including the one you and Widow found within the repurposed AIM bunker,” Fury fills in. Next to him, Hill opens some more files, throwing up four images of the locations Fury is talking about. “Different countries, different sizes, but what they all had in common was that they were heavy, lead-lined concrete structures.”

“Let me guess, ideal for messing around with gamma radiation?” Steve says.

“You would be right,” Fury nods, and gestures to the photos from the last mission that are still up. “If we can confirm that any of this equipment is the sort of thing that would be used for processing gamma radiation, then we know for definite what they’re up to.”

“Like you’ve not got enough evidence already,” Bucky points out, waving his hand towards the photo of the container.

“We like to be sure,” Fury says, arching an eyebrow before turning to Steve. “You know of any experts in gamma radiation that would be willing to come and see what we’ve got?”

“Depends,” Steve says, not breaking gaze with Fury. “Are you going to ask him nicely?”

“I was going to suggest you ask nicely.”

Steve sighs, rubs at his brow. “Jarvis, can you ask Bruce if he will come and give us an opinion on this?” he asks.

“Of course,” Jarvis answers immediately, and there is a pause. Next to him, Steve catches Clint mouthing something at Bucky, who just shrugs and puts his fingers to his lips in a shush gesture, eyes flicking towards Steve for the briefest of moments.

“He is on his way,” Jarvis says a few moments later.

“Thanks, Jarvis,” Steve says, and then turns back to Fury and Hill. “How come we haven't picked up on any of this so far? I assume you have intelligence teams tracking communications?”

“Yes, we have,” Fury says. “But it seems that their trick with the paper trail wasn't a one time thing,” he says. “Why do you think the complex in Bucharest was on fire when you arrived?”

“They were burning another paper-trail,” Steve fills in wearily, resting his elbow on the table and rubbing at his temple.

“Really?” Clint asks, sounding pained. “They’re writing all of this down? With pens and paper?”

“They probably know that our strength is hacking into electronic communications and records,” Steve says, looking to Fury who nods, a single dip of his chin. “SHIELD are renowned for it, and we’ve got Tony as well.”

“And Natasha,” Clint says. “She’s pretty sharp with stuff like that.”

“Exactly,” Steve says. “They do it all electronically, over the internet, on a network, whatever, it’s an instant weak spot. They use nothing but hard-copies, then we have to actually get there to get hold of it. And once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

“But then they’ll have to start from scratch,” Clint says.

“If they’re smart enough to pull off shit like this, I’m assuming they’re smart enough to remember the main gist of what they did,” Bucky suggests, looking at Steve. “Yeah, burning the hard copies would set them back, but they’d be able to redo it, right?”

“Yeah,” Steve agrees. “It would set them back months, maybe even years, but-”

“No-one ever said that Hydra aren't good at playing the long game,” Fury finishes, and Bucky snorts derisively.

“I can vouch for that.”

They all look up as there’s a soft tap on the door. Steve is the one to get up and open in, and comes face to face with Bruce.

“Cap,” he says mildly, though he looks a little surprised. “Why are you here?”

It’s a simple question, asked with genuine interest, but it still throws Steve completely off-guard. He blinks for half a second and then manages to regroup. “Couldn’t leave a mission half finished,” he says with a one-shouldered shrug, and gestures for Bruce to come inside. Bruce looks at him carefully, and the doubt that Steve had been valiantly ignoring comes back with a vengeance.

You are needed here, he tells himself, feeling angry and annoyed. He shuts the door again and turns back to the others.

“How can I help?” Bruce asks, nodding in greeting at Fury and Hill. Clint holds out his fist towards Bruce and Bruce distractedly obliges and fists-bumps him, before putting his glasses on and looking at the images that are still silently floating in midair above the table.

“These are images from the mission that Captain Rogers just assisted with in Bucharest,” Fury says, and Clint throws his hands in the air, mouthing _'what about me?'_ at Bucky. “We were hoping you could help us identify some of the equipment.”

Stepping right up the to table, Bruce nods slowly, and reaches out to pull some of the images closer. “Spectrometer,” he says, and Clint does a victory fist-pump next to him. “That looks like the remains of an irradiator,” he says, pointing to another. “Uh, they’re used commercially for sterilizing things with radiation. Non-commercially, they’re used for applying radiation to things. I’m guessing these guys don’t have a licence for theirs.”

“Radiation like gamma radiation?” Steve asks.

“Like gamma radiation,” Bruce says. “These are dosimeters. Used for checking levels of radiation, usually on people working with radiation. All pretty basic stuff for working with radioactive materials. The rest though...I’m not sure. I’d have to take a while to look.”

Fury nods. “Captain, show him the picture you took.”

Steve opens the file on his phone again, shows Bruce. Bruce stares at it carefully for a moment, and then passes the phone back. “Not so basic stuff, then,” he says quietly, reaching up to take his glasses off.

“We also have good reason to believe that Hydra are behind the theft of radioactive materials from two sites across Russia, and one in the Middle-East,” Fury says. “Uranium and Radium.”

“Which means?” Clint asks.

“Uranium and Radium emit gamma radiation,” Bruce tells him. “They’re doing what I tried to do. Using gamma radiation to try and recreate Weapon One,” Bruce says, gesturing to Steve.

“Oh, wow,” Clint says, whistling between his teeth. “I take it that’s not going to end well for them?”

“Didn’t for me,” Bruce says, with a deprecating smile. “Unless they know something I don’t.”

“Doubtful,” Bucky snorts. “You know everything, right?”

“Oh, if only,” Bruce says. “Any more bad news?”

“Yes,” Hill says, and she taps her fingers across the tablet in her hand. She pulls up some pictures and then hands the tablet to Bruce. He stares down at it, and then looks up.

“Why are you showing me these?”

“You know who they are?”

“Yes,” Bruce says. “Doctor Este Greco and Doctor Liliya Yegorov. They’ve been working on projects to do with NASA’s new CGRO project.”

“CGRO?”

“Yes, a Compton Gamma Ray Observatory,” Bruce says. “The previous one went out of use about fifteen years ago-”

“A what?” Clint asks. “Help, I no speak science.”

Bruce pauses, thinks for a moment. “A giant telescope in space,” he says. “Well, four giant telescopes in space. Used for detecting different waves. Mostly gamma waves.”

“Okay, when you say it like that I feel stupid.”

“Well NASA were working with these guys to try and get a CGRO based on earth. Miniaturizing the project. Greco and Yegorov are heavily involved, have written some pretty interesting papers on the subject.”

“Both missing,” Fury says shortly, and Bruce closes his eyes for a moment.

“Damn.”

Steve fights back a groan. “So Hydra are already at the stage of kidnapping scientists who can work with gamma radiation, are stealing radioactive material and building facilities equipped to hold it, and are manufacturing second-rate Vita-Ray chambers. Great.”

“You’re sure they’re definitely building super-soldiers?” Bucky demands. “Yeah, you’ve got the whole gamma angle, but what about the serum? Have we seen anything like that?”

“Not yet,” Fury concedes. “But I’m willing to bet that they’re trying.”

“There’s no guarantee it will work,” Bruce says. “People have been trying to recreate Project Rebirth ever since it worked. It’s never gone right.”

“Last time Hydra tried, they ended up with me,” Bucky says, and Steve isn't quite sure if he’s arguing against or agreeing with the ‘not gone right’ sentiment.

“And how well did that work out for them?” Clint says pointedly.

“You weren’t - you weren’t changed in an attempt that was a complete recreation though, were you?” Bruce points out to Bucky. “Schmidt and Zola worked alongside Erksine to begin with, they were going off almost the same blueprints, for want of a better word. You were a different version of Project Rebirth, a different version of the same project.”

“Zola was the one who managed it,” Steve says. “Without him, can they seriously do it?”

“The point is that they’re trying,” Fury says seriously. “Which means right now we have two problems.”

“Just two?” Clint mutters.

“One is that this means that you,” he says, turning to Bruce, “are at risk.”

“Me?” Bruce asks, looking taken aback. “How did you draw that conclusion?”

“Hydra are kidnapping current experts in gamma radiation,” Hill points out, and her expression is softer now, almost sorry. “With all of this in mind, we have reason to believe that they’ll come for you next.”

Bruce raises one eyebrow, just enough. He looks casually down at the table, swiping a finger over the black surface and leaving a trail of bright blue light in his wake.

“I’d like to see them try.”

It’s not a threat, except it is, and Steve feels a prickle go down his spine. Bruce is right; Hydra would have no hope of taking Bruce if he didn’t want to go anywhere.

Steve’s phone buzzes in his hand again, and he looks down to see another message from Tony. _Not now,_ he wants to say, because he needs to be here, focusing on this mission. Hell, Hydra nearly cost them Clint in this last mission, and now the implication is that they’ll be coming after Bruce?

Steve opens the message.

_‘He’s decided he doesn’t hate you anymore and he now wants you back. very mixed signals, I know.’_

“We know Hydra well enough to assume they will try,” Fury is saying slowly. Steve curses silently as he looks back up because he thinks Tony is saying that he needs Steve there with Arto, but he can’t just get up and leave now. 

Bruce seems to accept that, nodding. “And I’d rather not cause an incident whilst defending myself.”

“Screw causing an incident, we don’t want you to get hurt,” Clint adds with a frown.

“I wouldn’t get hurt,” Bruce says. “But the other guy might not hesitate to wipe out half of Manhattan if he feels he’s got to protect me or the rest of you. It’s not worth it.”

“I would offer you the usual SHIELD protection package,” Fury says, and the way he says it almost sounds like a joke. “But I am going to assume you would rather stay with the Avengers until this all blows over?”

“And how long is that going to take?” 

“We don’t know,” Hill says. “But we’re seeing more and more activity, and we know what they’re trying to do. If we move quickly, we should be able to shut them down without it dragging on for too long.”

“We’ll protect you Bruce,” Clint says, and he holds his hands together, curling his fingers so they make a heart shape. Steve wants to speak up and agree, but his eyes are back on his phone, thumb hovering over the reply button. Anxiety is welling up once again, because he doesn’t know what to do.

“Thanks, Clint,” Bruce says, smiling tiredly. “Okay, so that’s problem one dealt with, as long as I keep myself out of trouble. Problem two?”

“Problem two is that upstairs in this building you have a small child who is in fact a perfect copy of Project Rebirth.”

Steve goes perfectly still. The world seems to stop, everything around him freezing in place. The room goes deadly silent and he slowly and deliberately looks up from his phone. “Who told you that?”

Fury meets his gaze unapologetically. “SHIELD have been keeping an eye on this situation since you brought him back from another dimension,” he says. “You knew that full well.”

“Who told you he’s a copy?” Steve bites out, and it takes a lot of effort to stop his free hand balling into a fist. “Because you’re wrong. He is _not_ a copy.”

Something white hot and angry is threatening to rip free under his sternum. The feelings of betrayal and helplessness from earlier come back, mixed horribly with a fierce rush of protectiveness. The uncertainty is almost too much to handle, and he feels like he’s being pulled in two, torn straight down the middle. The old thought that he can’t be both Captain America and a father is rearing its ugly head again, and in his bones he knows that’s true right now, but it’s terrifying in that this time he doesn’t know which way to turn.

“What is he, then?” Hill asks.

“None of your damn business,” Steve bites out, and she rears back, affronted.

“He’s the biological son of a Steve Rogers from a different dimension, born via a process somewhere between IVF and cloning,” Fury fills in, and Steve’s stomach swoops in hot, sick anger because fuck Fury, he knew all along and has been playing Steve with his usual barrel of half-truths and lies of omission.

“He’s your _son?”_ Hill asks, looking genuinely startled.

Steve’s phone rings. He snaps his jaw shut, looks away from Hill and down at the screen, and to his despair he sees it’s Tony calling. Fuck, he can’t pick up the damn phone right now - but what if Arto has kicked off and needs restraining? If he ignores it, Tony could get hurt. Close to trembling with anger and adrenaline, Steve decides fuck it, and picks up the call right then and there.

“What?” Steve says shortly, holding his phone to his ear with one hand and pinching the bridge of his nose with the fingers of his free hand. “Do you need me up there?”

“He’s sat outside the door to the conference room,” Tony’s voice says without preamble. “He asked if he could come and find you.”

Steve drops his hand away from his face, stunned. “He’s waiting for me?”

“Yes,” Tony says. “He was determined to go, so I didn’t stop him. Jarvis says it looks like he’s too scared to actually knock though.”

Heart clenching strangely inside his chest, Steve hangs up without a word. He shoves his phone into his pocket and gets up, pushing his chair back, because the fact Arto is waiting for him outside the room, the fact that he’s at risk from Hydra and SHIELD and everyone else in-between, the fact that he’s Steve’s - well, all of that leaves him with only one option.

“Rogers?”

“I quit,” he says shortly. “I’m done. Bucky, you take over this operation for me.”

There’s a moment of palpable confusion in the room. Fury stares at him. “You cannot just quit.”

“I’m taking extended leave,” Steve tells him. “Or I’m quitting.”

“You want _me_ in charge?” Bucky butts in, sounding incredulous.

“Yes,” Steve says. “And I’m not changing my mind, so it’s you or I go and find someone else-”

“I’ll do it,” Bucky says immediately.

“There you go,” Steve says, nodding at Bucky and praying that Bucky knows how grateful he is. “I’m on leave. Bucky is my official replacement.”

“I sincerely hope this is your idea of a joke, Captain,” Fury says. “Hydra are mobilizing across the globe and you want to duck and run and put your sidekick in charge?”

“ _You_ said you should have put me in charge,” Bucky points out before Steve can rise to the obvious bait. “Like, three days ago.”

“Captain America cannot just go on leave,” Hill chips in, sounding completely stunned.

“Then Bucky can have the damn shield,” Steve snaps, heading for the door.

“Rogers, sit your ass back down and think about it-” Fury calls after him.

“No,” Steve replies, and he pulls the door open and slows to a halt. Once again, it feels like every single thing in the world stops.

Arto is sitting there against the wall, hunched up small with his Bucky Bear clutched in both hands. His eyes are red and he’s glaring at Steve, but he’s there, and that’s what counts. Even as Steve watches, his eyes fill up with tears again, his lip trembling.

Steve steps forwards and stoops down. Arto lifts his hands up immediately and Steve catches him under his arms, hefting him up and holding him close, one arm tucked under his legs and the other around his back. Arto tucks his arms in, turning his face into Steve’s chest and holding Bucky Bear protectively into the curve of his body.

“I sorry,” he chokes out.

“You’re okay,” Steve replies, and he sounds distant to his own ears but this is what he needs to do. Other people can deal with Hydra right now. No-one else can fill this space. “You don’t need to be sorry.”

There’s the sound of raised voices behind him; he hears Bucky and Clint and knows them well enough to figure out that they’re probably just causing a ruckus to give him time to get away. Hill is shouting at one of them, and Bruce is saying something to Fury-

Steve walks away. He hitches Arto up in his arms and holds him closer. “Let’s go find Tony, huh?” he says, and he finds that his voice is remarkably steady.

“Yeah,” Arto says tearfully. “He in the - the floor at the top.”

“Alright,” Steve says quietly, and there’s a moment in which he feels panic threatening again, but Arto is reaching out to place his hand on Steve’s collarbone, and it fades as small fingers curl around the neck of his shirt. Steve takes a deep breath, thinks of Tony.

“Alright,” he repeats, and he heads for the stairs. “The floor at the top it is.”


	13. Chapter 13

The moment Tony hears movement in the corridor that leads from the stairwell to the penthouse door, he twists around, heart thudding high in his throat. He knows its Steve, he recognizes the sound of his footsteps anywhere, but did he manage to find Arto? What’s happened because he hasn’t heard a thing since Steve abruptly hung up on him-

Steve appears, with Arto cradled against his chest. He looks worn but his eyes are clear, and he meets Tony’s gaze evenly. Tony feels his heart swelling in his chest, a rush of emotion that he doesn’t even bother to try and shove away.

“So I found this,” Steve says, nodding down at Arto, and Tony smiles faintly at him. Steve looks...different somehow. He looks tired, but the tension he’s been carrying for the past couple of weeks seems to have faded or changed, Tony’s not sure which it is.

He chooses not to comment on it just yet. “Oh, that,” he says instead, walking over. “I was looking for that.” Arto twists around in Tony’s arms and grins toothily at him. His eyes are red but he looks as happy as Tony as ever seen him, one hand gripping onto Steve’s shirt and the other still clinging onto that damn Bucky Bear.

“Found me,” he crows. “Steve found me.”

“That he did,” Tony says, and leans in to kiss Steve on the corner of his mouth. Steve turns his face into it, nudging his nose against Tony’s. “How did it go?” he asks, because he wants to know about what Fury has said in regards to the mission. Of course he’ll get Jarvis to pull up a transcript later, but he also wants to hear it from Steve.

Steve shifts Arto around as Arto squirms, climbing up over his shoulder. He ends up knelt on Steve’s forearm, leaning up over his shoulder with Bucky Bear dangling down in the small of Steve’s back. His cheeks are steadily going pink from being almost upside down but he doesn't seem to mind.

“Steve?”

Steadying Arto with a palm between his shoulder blades, Steve looks at Tony evenly. “I just quit.”

Tony stares at him, utterly nonplussed and not entirely sure that he’s just heard those three words come out of Steve Rogers’ mouth. “Excuse you, what? You just _quit?”_

“Yeah,” Steve says, frowning as Arto slides back onto his front and then pushes against his arm, trying to climb all the way up onto his shoulder.

“Quit – okay, give me some context here,” Tony says, the words disjointed and abrupt. “You quit what?”

“The mission,” Steve says. “Liaising with SHIELD on whatever Hydra is doing. Well, I told Fury I was taking leave, then said Bucky was my replacement and then walked out.”

“Holy shit,” Tony says, and Arto cackles with laughter. Tony glances at him, distracted. “Don’t you say that.”

“Won’t say that,” Arto says. “Up. Steve, up.”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Steve says, beginning to sound harried. His forehead is creasing in a worried frown, expression edging slowly towards frustration. “I’m already having a minor panic-attack about it-”

“I’m not looking like anything.”

“Yes you are!”

“I’m just shocked, okay,” Tony insists, because it’s true. “I’ve never seen you take a step back from anything, not even when it was literally killing you.”

“Well, this isn’t about me, is it?” Steve says, and then flinches as Arto catches him the ear with his elbow. “Ow, watch it.”

“Up,” Arto demands, and Steve sighs but capitulates. He lifts Arto up and sits him on his shoulders. Arto gasps and immediately starts to laugh, kicking his heels against Steve’s chest and holding on with his palms on Steve's forehead.

“What did Fury say?” Tony demands, thoughts going a mile a minute. “Did his brain explode? What did Bucky say? Did _his_ brain explode? Okay never mind, I’m going to get Jarvis to show me, this I cannot miss-”

“Tony,” Steve interrupts, looking pained. He catches Arto’s ankles in his hands, holds them still so he’s not being kicked. Christ, considering the man fractured his sternum three days ago, he probably shouldn’t be letting a six-year old super-soldier use him as a jungle gym. “I’m an idiot.”

“You,” Tony says and he leans in and kisses Steve, fingers of one hand holding onto his jaw. “You are the best idiot I have ever met.”

Steve smiles faintly as Tony pulls back. “I haven’t been unemployed since nineteen thirty-eight,” Steve says, and he sounds casual but Tony knows him well enough to sense the uncertainty hidden in the joking around. “I may find it hard.”

Tony laughs, his hand sliding up to the back of Steve’s neck, heavy and warm. “You’re a full time father now, Rogers. That’s going to take up most of your time.”

“Yeah, about that,” Steve says, and Tony realizes what he’s just said.

He winces and starts mentally berating himself for crossing that line again, pushing before Steve is ready for it. “Sorry?”

“No,” Steve says. “S’what I am, right?”

Tony’s thoughts abruptly stop all over again. He pauses, fingers gently kneading at the back of Steve’s neck. “That’s your decision.”

Steve breathes out heavily. “It’s what I am.”

Tony’s throat goes tight for a moment, and he can feel it in his ribcage, a strange warmth as he realizes that this might actually be going right the way he wanted it to. “What you are,” he echoes. “You okay with that?”

“Oh, god no,” Steve says, tone easy but full of self-depreciation. “I have no idea what I am doing.”

“I’m here,” Tony says immediately, wanting nothing more than to be able to get rid of that last lingering insecurity, to convince Steve that he’s doing the right thing and it’s all going to be fine. “You know that.”

Steve nods, mute. He leans in to kiss Tony again, but he’s stopped by a small orange-socked foot pushing against Tony’s face, toes pressing against his mouth.

“Well, moment ruined,” Tony says, words muffled. He pretends to bite at Arto’s foot and Arto giggles, shoving at his cheek with the other foot.

“Easy,” Tony says as Arto prods a little too enthusiastically, and Arto drops his feet immediately.

“Sorry.”

Steve raises his eyebrows at Tony. “That’s new.”

“There was an incident,” Tony says, deciding that it wouldn’t be fair to simply shrug off what happened whilst Steve was away. Steve deserves to know the full picture as far as Arto is concerned. “A teeny tiny incident in which he realized that he is very capable of hurting people.”

Steve’s jaw clenches, and for a moment Tony thinks he’s going to let rip then and there. Thankfully, he doesn’t. He lets out a very controlled, very deliberate breath. “We will be discussing this teeny tiny incident later,” he says, and it doesn’t sound like he’s willing to negotiate.

Still, Tony’s going to try. He’s not going to leave Steve to build it all up in his head, to worry over the fact he got hurt. “It’s fine, I’m okay. It was a learning experience,” Tony says. “He felt bad, didn’t you kid?”

“Didn’t mean to,” Arto mumbles, sounding small. “It was an accident. I said sorry.”

“There you go,” Tony says to Steve. Steve’s expression softens slightly, but Tony knows that he’s not going to let it go that easily. He can only hope that Steve won’t be mad at Arto for what happened, because as far as he’s concerned it’s in the past and none of them will benefit from dragging it up again. Besides, Bucky already did a pretty good job of telling Arto off for it.

“Down?” Arto says, and Steve glances up at him before reaching up to swing Arto off his shoulders. He sets Arto on the floor and Arto immediately leans into him, wrapping his arms around Steve’s waist and hiding his face in his hip. Steve settles a hand on his back and Tony leans in, pressing his mouth gently to Steve’s now that he can do it without Arto shoving his feet in the way. He tastes warm and familiar, and Tony could quite happily pull him in and do nothing but lazily kiss him for the next hour-

“Sir, Director Fury and deputy Director Hill have left the building,” Jarvis interrupts carefully from the speakers, and Tony pulls back from Steve.

“Good.”

Steve looks up and around. “Damn. I better go and find Bucky,” he says regretfully. “I don’t know if Fury will actually let him step in on the mission.”

“It’s him or no-one right?” Tony points out. “If he doesn’t want Bucky’s help, then he doesn’t get any help. Besides, he actually works for SHIELD, you don’t.”

“Fair point,” Steve says, stroking his hand down Tony’s side. “Jarvis, where is Bucky?”

“Agent Barnes is currently in Agent Barton’s quarters,” Jarvis replies. “He seems rather agitated about something.”

“Still?” Steve asks in disbelief. “He’s not swinging punches, is he?”

“Okay, what did I miss?” Tony asks, as Jarvis replies with a dry, “Not at the moment, Captain.”

“He’s pissed at Clint,” Steve says, rubbing his head. “He’s already-”

He mimes a punch, and Tony lifts his eyebrows. “He’s that mad?” he asks skeptically. “Right, what’s going on there?”

“Don’t think he’d know what to do without Clint,” Steve says honestly. “As much as they are a pain in my ass when they get together – Clint’s been his best friend since he got back.”

“Thought that was you?”

“It is,” Steve says with a shrug.  “He can have more than one friend. I’m not jealous.”

“Never said you were,” Tony says. “You going to leave him yelling at Barton?”

“Yeah,” Steve says unapologetically. “Maybe a telling off from Bucky will be enough to make him stop pulling stupid stunts like that.”

“Oh, I cannot believe that those words just came out of your mouth,” Tony says, but he’s laughing and Steve is smiling back, a wry twist of his mouth that Tony can’t help but lean over and kiss.

“Want to see Clint,” Arto says as Tony pulls back. He swings around Steve’s side, reaching out to pull at Tony’s shirt. “Is Clint back? Can I see Clint?”

Tony’s initial impulse is to say yes, because seeing Clint will make Arto happy and after the horrendous few days they’ve had he’ll pretty much do anything to make Arto happy right now. But on the flipside, if Clint is with Bucky and there is yelling going on, then Tony wants Arto nowhere near it.

“Jarvis, tell everyone that we’re doing team dinner tonight,” Tony says after a moments deliberation. “There you go, Smart-Art. Clint is busy with Bucky at the moment, but they’ll meet us for dinner if you don’t see him before.”

“Pepper will be here later,” Steve reminds him.

“Even better. Plenty of people to bribe to distract her,” Tony says promptly. Steve snorts with laughter but doesn’t object, and Tony would be willing to bet the Mark Seven that he’s privately thinking the same thing. It’s a tactical move on his part as well; if Pepper sees Arto happy and content in the midst of the Avengers then there’s more of a chance of her accepting his presence in Tony’s life. 

He’s about to voice that thought to Steve but Steve beats him to it. “So, about that thing you said a minute ago, about you being here,” he says conversationally.

Tony draws back, eyes narrowed. “What’s with the casual tone? I don’t trust your casual tone,” he says. “That’s the tone you use with bad guys just before you invite Natasha over to play.”

Steve looks down again, strokes his palm over Arto’s head. “Hey, go and play,” he says. “I just need to talk to Tony.”

“No,” Arto replies immediately. “You’ll go again.”

Something sharp and painful flickers over Steve’s face, so quickly that if Tony didn’t know him as well as he does he would have missed it entirely. He rubs at his temple for a moment. “I’m not even going to leave the room,” he says to Arto, and Tony doesn't think it’s his temper that’s starting to show through the cracks.

Arto looks up, suspicious. “Promise?”

“Promise,” Steve replies. “We’ll be right here.”

Arto nods. He steps away from Steve and edges over to his corner of the room, eyes still fixed on Steve as he takes tiny, shuffling, sideways steps. Tony bites down on an urge to laugh as Steve waits patiently – and with a small amount of exasperation – for Arto to get all the way across the room.

“Still here,” Steve calls pointedly, and a slow smile spreads over Arto’s face before he turns and jumps onto his bed with a loud shriek, rolling over and scrambling over to where there’s a variety of Lego pieces laid out on the small nightstand.

“So, back to that thing, about me being here?” Tony presses before the conversation can be turned anywhere else. “I hope you weren’t implying that I’m not.”

Steve draws in a slow breath, and then moves around to sit on the couch, rubbing his face tiredly. He grabs the remote and flicks the television on, a wash of noise in the background. His eyes flick over to Arto who is still happily sifting through a bucket of lego, and Tony knows he’s done it so they can talk without being so easily overheard. Not that there’s any real need for the television to be on; Tony’s convinced that he’s never heard anything as unnecessarily loud as a six year old digging through a bucket of lego.

“Sit,” Steve says, and Tony obliges, sitting down with one foot pulled up underneath him and an arm stretched along the back of the couch.

“Okay, spit it out, Mon Capitan.”

“Arto thinks I’m his dad,” Steve says without preamble, turning serious eyes on Tony. “Well, he knows,” he amends.

Tony looks at him carefully, letting what Steve is saying sink in for a moment. This is uncharted territory, an area of conversation that so far has been pretty much a mine-field. “How do you know that?”

“Clint told me, that Arto had said it to him,” Steve says. “When we were in medical.”

“Well, it’s not exactly the biggest conundrum of the year,” Tony says cautiously. “You look pretty much identical.”

“I know,” Steve says, “and that’s – that’s okay.”

Wow, Steve must have hit his head _really_ hard. Tony doesn’t make the joke though, because Steve is serious and honest and if he’s saying what Tony thinks he’s saying, then Arto will soon become known to the world as Arto Rogers. There’s something there in Steve’s expression though, a lingering frown that means part of it isn’t quite settled. Though if Steve has said he’s Arto’s father, and he’s said that it’s okay that Arto knows he’s his dad, what else is there?

“But…?” Tony presses, drawing the word out.

Steve meets his eyes, takes a slow, deep breath. “If I’m his – if that’s what I am, then what are you?”

Tony goes very still, looking down at his knee. Shit. He wasn’t expecting this to come up so soon – hell, he definitely wasn’t expecting _Steve_ to be the one to bring it up. The word Bucky had used to describe him echoes in the back of his mind but he finds his courage failing him, because biologically this is Steve’s child, and even if Tony is the one who has stepped up to look after him, he doesn’t technically or legally have a leg to stand on- 

“Tony?”

“Small confession to make, here,” Tony says, still not looking up. “Bucky may have referred to me as something he shouldn’t have done, in front of the small child-”

“Tony. Just say it.”

“He referred to me as his Dad,” Tony admits, and he glances up and wishes he hadn’t because Steve is watching him intently and that blue gaze always sees way too much of him at moments like this. “I don’t know if he heard it though. He was screaming and screaming and Bucky had him pinned down, and he said to Arto that he wasn’t going to let him go, because he wasn’t going to let him hurt his Dad.”

“Oh,” Steve says, and he reaches up to rub at his mouth for a moment, before saying, “Well I guess that settles it then.”

Stomach twisting, Tony stares at him for a moment and then looks away and shakes his head. “Steve, think about it,” he tries to say, because they shouldn’t be making decisions of that magnitude just because Bucky said something in the heat of the moment.

“I am thinking about it,” Steve insists. “Forget what Bucky said for a moment, what is it you want?”

“Doesn’t matter what I want, it’s not about me.”

“It does and it is. Right now I’m asking you what you want.”

“Steve-”

“Answer the damn question.”

“Fine, alright,” Tony says, and it’s like dragging something out from his very depths, painful and raw. He used to hate how moments and confessions like this felt, but when it’s with Steve it’s different. “Biologically he’s yours,” he continues to talk before Steve can butt in or before he can talk himself out of it. “That’s non-negotiable. But if it’s me and you together, then I’d want him to be mine as well.”

The words hang there for a moment. Tony won’t take them back, but he’s painfully aware of how Steve could say one little word that would wreck him, that would mean distancing himself from Arto, from Arto  _and_ Steve, having to step back out of their lives-

“Then that’s what we do,” Steve finally says quietly, and Tony loves this man so fiercely that it hurts.

Despite the enormity of the relief he feels at Steve’s words, the dizzying sense of gratitude, Tony isn’t willing to rest on his laurels just yet. “Not that simple,” Tony hears himself arguing, because it doesn’t matter what he wants, and why doesn’t Steve get it? “It’s got to be what’s best for him, and it’s got to be what he wants, too.”

“Didn’t he already ask if we were married?” Steve points out. “That kind of implies that he sees us as a pair, right?”

“Yes, yes he did,” Tony concedes. “Hey, how come you’re now being the calm, rational one? You  _did_ hit your head when you were busy being blown up, didn’t you?”

“More than once, but that’s not the point,” Steve says. “It’s different. Now we’ve made the decisions, this is all logistics. This is what I’m good at.”

“I guess,” Tony says, and looks up as Steve reaches over, brushing his hand over Tony’s arm, fingers curling around his bicep. “That would put us together forever you know,” Tony says conversationally. “No backsies, when you’ve got a kid together. If we fall out, it’s not just on us.”

“Was it ever?” Steve points out. “The rest of the team.”

“If we ever get divorced, I get Bruce and Thor,” Tony says. “You can keep Barnes and Barton. Hell, I will pay you to keep Barnes and Barton.”

“Tony.”

“I’m joking, stop looking so stressed,” Tony says. “Look, I know this is a huge thing-”

“We’re doing it,” Steve says shortly.

“If he wants,” Tony repeats adamantly.

“He’s six, he doesn’t get a say.”

“He does,” Tony says. “Look. We’ll sit down with him later, talk it out. See who he sees as who. Draw him a family tree, and if he puts you and me in the goddamn Mom and Dad spaces, then that’s fine. If he doesn’t-”

“Nope,” Steve says, shaking his head. “We put me and you in those positions. We are together, you drew that line. And that means we are parents together, like you want but are being too stubborn to accept. If he says no, what are we going to do, stop acting like we’re together? Or carry on and let him get more confused about how relationships work?”

Tony shuts his mouth, knowing that Steve is right. “Damn. I hate admitting you’re right,” he says grudgingly, and then sighs. “I just don’t want to – I don’t want to force a parent on him that he doesn’t want.”

Steve’s expression flickers at that, going softer, more earnest. “I thought I was the idiot today,” he says, and he tightens his fingers around Tony’s arm and pulls him over into his lap. Tony goes – not altogether willingly – and ends up sprawled over one of Steve’s thighs, leaning against his chest with a hand pressed on his shoulder.

“Ass,” he scowls, but Steve just hauls him closer, hands on Tony’s waist.

“I am terrified,” he says, voice low. “But you were the one insisting we do this together, and I need you to be with me on this. Don’t you flake out on me now, Stark.”

“Using that against me now, you devious tactical-” Tony begins, but Steve is kissing him and cutting off his words, a warm palm sliding onto Tony’s neck.

“It’s what you want as well,” Steve says. “Stop playing the martyr and say yes.”

“Okay, okay,” Tony says, and he knows that he’s said the right thing when he sees the relief in Steve’s eyes. “Hang on – this doesn’t require us actually getting married does it?”

“Oh, god no,” Steve says vehemently. “Are you crazy?”

Tony smiles, a small wry twist to his mouth. “Living in sin, how scandalous."

“We’ve been doing it for god knows how long,” Steve says, exasperated. “I don’t think adding Arto the mix intensifies the level of sin.”

“It might,” Tony says, and starts to laugh. “Sin squared.”

“Stop talking,” Steve advises him, and Tony is still laughing as Steve kisses him again. God, he’s not entirely sure that this has just happened, that every fuck up they've made in the past few weeks has been fixed, that they’ve reached this point where he’s got both Steve and Arto, and Steve wants it to be both of them raising his kid-

“Tony!”

They both look over at Arto, who is standing up on his bed. “Is it lunch now?”

“Actually, yes it is,” Tony says, and sits up. “Well done, human alarm clock.”

Arto grins and leaps off the bed, running over to the sofa. Tony braces himself as Arto scrambles up next to them, one hand on Steve’s chest and the other on Tony’s shoulder. He doesn’t miss the wince Steve gives, and glares flatly at him.

“Healed my ass,” he says pointedly, as Steve moves Arto’s hand onto his shoulder.

“It’s fine,” he says. “Just like a bruise.”

 “Time for lunch,” Arto says. “Time for lunch. I want lucky charms.”

 “Cereal is for breakfast, we’ve been over this…hmm, ten thousand times since you got here,” Tony says, and Arto starts to laugh.

 “Lucky Charms,” he says to Steve, who shakes his head.

 “Tony said no.”

 “Pleeeease,” Arto whines.

 “No,” Steve says firmly, sitting up. He goes to stand up, but Arto is clambering into his lap, winding his arms around Steve’s neck. He makes a high-pitched whining noise in the back of his throat, and Steve looks helplessly over at Tony. Right. Just because Steve is willing to step up now doesn’t mean he’s got a clue how to do it.

“Right. We’re going to go to the kitchen, we’re going to make awesome sandwiches. They will be so awesome you’ll forget all about Lucky Charms. You’ll never touch another Charm again,” Tony says, and Arto is now laughing, still swinging around Steve’s neck with one arm.

“No I won't,” he says. “I like Lucky Charms. Clint says Lucky Charms are awesome, not sandwiches.”

It’s possibly one of the longest sentences that Tony has heard Arto say in a long while, no stammering or stumbling over words, and it sets him at ease. It’s becoming glaringly obvious that the more content Arto feels, the easier it is for him to get the words out.

“Clint is a horrible liar,” he says, and Arto just laughs. “Come on, tall and blond and short and blond, let’s go.”

They take the stairs to the communal kitchen area, Arto walking at Steve’s side with his fingers curled into Steve’s belt. He has to keep breaking into a skipping sort of run to keep up, but he doesn’t look like he minds.

The kitchen is a mess; there’s empty mugs piled up on the side, what looks like a week’s worth of plates on the counter as well as several empty bottles of beer. 

“Jesus, has someone been feeding an army in here? And I hate break it to you but I think Barnes has been drinking beer for breakfast again.”

“You’re not the person to comment on that,” Steve says, and he swings Arto onto the counter. Arto laughs and pulls his feet up, leaning back on his hands and sliding his socks all over the smooth surface.

“Ew,” Tony remarks. “Get your feet off the counter, you horrible creature. We eat there." 

“Sit down,” Steve says, and he steps behind Tony, pressing his hands onto his shoulders. “I got this.”

“No, it’s okay,” Tony starts to protest.

“Tony, take five,” Steve insists, voice low and firm. “I’m willing to bet you haven’t stopped at all since I went away.”

“Steve-”

“Don’t argue with me,” Steve says, and he steps up close behind him and slides a hand across the front of Tony’s chest, hand gripping gently onto Tony’s upper arm. Tony sighs and reaches up to hold onto Steve’s forearm where it’s braced across his collarbones, leaning down to press his mouth to warm skin.

“Don’t want you to burn out,” Steve says softly, and Tony lifts his head again and leans back so Steve’s face is alongside his own. “I need you.”

“I know you do, and I’m fine,” Tony says.

“And I want to keep you that way,” Steve murmurs. Behind them, Arto is humming tunelessly, banging either feet or hands against the countertop in a rhythm undecipherable to anyone sane. “Come on. I know how to look after you. I can do that. And if I look after you, you’re okay to help me look after him.”

“You’re a dirty tactical cheat,” Tony says, and turns his face towards Steve. Steve leans forwards and gently kisses him.

“I am unemployed,” he says. “I need a job to do.”

“And we’re it, got it,” Tony says tiredly. He shuts his eyes for a moment, enjoying having Steve so close, warm and solid at his back. God, but he’s missed him over the past few days. “I think if I stop, I’ll fall down,” he admits.

“Okay, you are definitely taking some time off,” Steve says, and Tony groans because he knows from experience that that’s not a tone of voice he can usually win an argument against.

“I don’t need time off,” he protests. “And besides, you are not unemployed. You’re still Captain America, you’ve just stopped running around doing errands for Nick Fury-”

“Don’t make me pick you up,” Steve says, and then he’s somehow hooked an ankle around a stool and pulled it around, and is pushing Tony down into it. Tony grabs his wrists, but there’s no way of stopping Steve when he’s determined.

“Steve, listen to me. I’m fine,” he says. “It’s just been a long few days.”

Steve pauses at that. He moves to stand in front of Tony, sliding his hands onto his shoulders, thumbs just brushing his neck above the collar of his T-shirt. “Okay,” he finally says. “How about you go to the workshop, we’ll make lunch and bring you something down?”

God, Tony wants that so badly he can taste it. He’s not been in the workshop properly since Arto arrived.

“You sure?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Steve says, and Tony thinks there’s the fleeting edge of uncertainty in his countenance, but the fact he’s offering to take Arto single-handedly for even half an hour is a miracle.

“Okay, no take backsies,” Tony says, and he stands up and kisses Steve. “Meet you down there.”

“Where are you going?” a wary voice asks from behind them. Tony half turns and Arto crawls the counter, reaching for him, a hand on Tony’s shoulder.

“The workshop.”

“What's the workshop?”

“Where Tony builds,” Steve says.

“Woefully inadequate,” Tony interrupts. “It’s where magic happens. It’s where my superhero alter-ego emerged from, in all of its red and gold glory.”

“Now that’s a lie, I’m pretty sure your alter-ego emerged from a cave in Afghanistan, and the first red and gold one came out of the workshop in LA,” Steve points out.

“Always a stickler for the details,” Tony sighs, and then looks at Arto. “It’s at the bottom of the tower. You saw it on the plan I showed you.”

Arto nods slowly. “Where the cars are?”

“That’s the parking basement, the workshop is above that.”

Arto nods, apparently appeased. “Can we come with you?”

Tony opens his mouth but Steve is there first. “No. You are going to help me make lunch first, and then we might go down.”

Arto brightens at that. “I can help you?”

“I don't know, can you?” Steve asks evenly and Arto grins at him, all teeth.

“Yes!” he announces, and stands up on the counter, using Tony’s shoulder to help steady himself. He bends his knees and Tony makes an alarmed noise that’s not quite a word; Steve turns just in time to catch Arto as he leaps from the center island.

“Whoa, not okay!” Tony says, heart thudding in his chest. “Jesus, kid-”

“Christ, you have got to stop doing that,” Steve says as he sets Arto on the counter next to him. Arto just grins, standing up and sliding his hands into Steve’s hair.

“It’s easy,” he says. “I can jump that far, easy.”

Steve just shakes his head. “Mind your head, I need to get in that cupboard-”

Arto ducks under Steve’s arm as he opens the cupboard, peering in like an inquisitive housecat the moment it’s open. Tony debates reiterating the ‘it is not okay to jump on the counters’ argument but decides against it; Steve obviously isn’t prioritizing it as a battle he wants to have right now so he’s just going to leave them to it.

He leaves the communal floor, heading down to the workshop, equal parts relief and excitement running through him. He aches to get back to the workshop; it has always been his safe place, his bolt hole when he needed time away from Steve or the Avengers or life in general, and he’s been unable to use it as such whilst he’s been in charge of Arto.

“Honey, I’m home,” he calls as he pushes open the glass door at the bottom of the stairs, a grin already lighting up his face. The lights are on, and as walks across the floor he hears a familiar whirring and excited beeping. “Aw, you miss me?”

Dummy rolls over just as Tony throws himself into his chair, sliding up to his desk and grabbing it with both hands. A few deft flicks of his fingers and he’s got the specs for the repulsor upgrades open, and Dummy is eagerly clicking, camera raised inquisitively towards the holo-screens. 

“Hey, hey,” Tony says, elbowing Dummy away. “Six inch rule, you know that. Jesus, looking after a kid is a piece of cake after dealing with you for all these years, you know that? Don’t do the sad thing, you know I’m not falling for that. Just because Steve does, doesn’t mean it works on me. Go get me a set of screwdrivers if you want to be helpful.”

Dummy obediently scuttles away, and Tony shakes his head before getting up out of his seat. He walks over to the other workbench and grabs the box that currently holds the half-finished gauntlet that he had been working on, carrying it back to his desk. He shoves the still-unfinished starkpad screens out the way and unpacks the box, slipping the gauntlet onto his hand and flexing his fingers. 

“Hey, Jarvis,” he says absentmindedly. “Steve’s bringing Arto down in a bit.”

“What protocols would you like me to establish?”

“No access to the holo-screens,” Tony says. “Definitely no access to the storage units. Is there any way you can stop him getting at the tools in the cabinets?”

“Not at present,” Jarvis says. “Maybe you and Captain Rogers will have to tell him not to yourselves and hope for the best.”

“You are the bitchiest nanny I could have hired,” Tony remarks. “Just keep an eye on him, okay?”

“Of course,” Jarvis replies, sounding moderately insulted. “He is an occupant of the tower and I will look after him as such.”

“He’s a kid, J. They find trouble.”

“If I have managed to keep you out of trouble for this long, one small child should not be a problem.”

Tony laughs out loud at that. Dummy rolls up with the screwdrivers and Tony takes them, setting the case down and flipping it open. “Gonna need those circuit boards we built,” he adds absent-mindedly, “and the capacitors to go with them.”

Dummy wheels off and Tony grins again, unable to hold it back. “Atta bot,” he says, voice low, and then he raises his voice. “J, how is lunch coming along?” 

“Captain Rogers and Arto are both fine. Captain Rogers is attempting to make sandwiches with Arto’s assistance.”

“Why attempting? Is he assisting?”

“He is not.”

“What is he doing?”

“He is eating peanut butter from the jar.”

Tony laughs again, shaking his head. He’s under no illusion that this is going to be easy, but already everything seems so much better. He still can’t quite get over the fact that Steve told Nick Fury that he quit, that he wouldn’t be working for SHIELD anymore. He knows Steve well enough to know how hard that must have been, especially seeing as these days about half of Steve’s missions are run through SHIELD. It’s not lost on him that this is what he’s wanted all along - for Steve to step up and do the right thing by Arto. It does feel a little frustrating that it’s taken this long, but he’s not going to voice that thought. Even saying it might be enough to push Steve back in the wrong direction, and he can’t risk that, not now he’s got him where he wants him, where he needs him. 

He’s busy tightening screws into the gauntlet on his hand when he hears footsteps on the stairs; Steve appears with a tray balanced on one hand; Tony can see several sandwiches, a couple of bags of chips, two mugs and two glasses all piled neatly onto it. Steve taps in his access code and the glass door swings open for him.

“Where’s Rogers the Smaller?” Tony calls, glancing up briefly.

“With Clint,” Steve says. “He was excited to see him, so they’re playing video games.”

“If you say he’s letting him play Grand Theft Auto, I’m going to go test this on him,” Tony says, waving his gauntleted hand.

Steve rolls his eyes. “They’re playing Mario Kart. Calm down.”

“Actually, that’s worse,” Tony decides, putting the screwdriver down and flexing the fingers of the gauntlet, pleased with how smoothly they move. “Do you remember what happened the last time you and Bucky played Mario Kart?”

“Nope,” Steve says, but of course he does. Everyone does.

“Liar,” Tony says. “If my TV ends up broken again-”

“Your TV?” Steve remarks as he sets the tray down on the edge of Tony’s workbench, nudging the screwdriver case out the way as he does.

“The TV.”

“You said your TV.”

“So sue me, I paid for the damn thing, and the replacement,” Tony says, reaching for one of the mugs, metal fingers clicking against the ceramic. “Thanks.”

“Feeling better?”

Tony wants to say that he was feeling fine to begin with so there’s no way he could feel better, but he doesn't think Steve will buy it. “Actually, yeah,” he says. “Good to be back.”

Steve steps closer, hip resting against the side of the workbench. “What Pepper said,” he says carefully. “About you ruining your life just to keep me happy.”

“Jesus, Steve, you think that this is what this is?” Tony asks. He feels mildly irritated by Steve bringing it up again, but not enough so that it shows in his expression or his voice.

“No,” Steve says, and his voice is easy and soft and wow, they are getting good at this whole communication thing. Some days these words would have been shouted, snarled, delivered with force and venom, deliberate in their intent to wound, both of them trying to force their point across without listening to the other. Not today though. Today this is working, and Tony hopes it’s the start of a new trend. “I think you’re doing it for Arto,” Steve says, and folds his arms across his chest. “But you said you possibly would, if it came down to it.”

Tony keeps his mouth closed, lifting an eyebrow in an expression he knows probably looks a little defensive, because yeah he did say that and he can’t just deny it now. Well, it’s more than that he can’t deny it; he won’t.

“Tony,” Steve says quietly. “I - you have somehow become the thing that my entire world revolves around, without me even noticing it,” he says, and the brutal honesty in his words is both amazing and terrifying to hear. “Two weeks ago I didn’t even think about-” he starts, and breaks off. “Don’t lose the parts of you that make you happy for my sake, or for his,” he says, and he gestures around him to the workshop. “This is you. It’s always been, and you can’t give that up." 

“You quit your job for him,” Tony says. “How is that any different?”

“Because that’s what other people were expecting of me, I’m not giving up a part of myself-”

“Fighting the fight is part of you,” Tony says. “So you are.”

“Keeping people safe is what I do,” Steve says firmly. “I only fight because that’s what’s required to make that happen.”

“Bullshit,” Tony says with a quirk to the corner of his mouth. “If there were no more fights to be had, you would go and find one.”

“Okay, maybe,” Steve concedes with a grudging almost-smile of his own. “But right now, the person I am keeping safe is him. I’m still doing my job.”

“All work and no play makes Steve Rogers boring as all hell,” Tony points out.

“I play,” Steve says, and Tony makes a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat.

“You have been on leave from SHIELD for ten minutes and you are already freaking out about it.”

“Lies,” Steve says, and he’s reaching out and taking Tony’s mug from him, setting it aside and then pulling Tony to his feet, fingers circling his bare wrist in a firm grip.

“I cannot believe you’re even trying to justify this to me,” Tony says. “You are terrible at downtime, you literally said that yourself.”

“Well, maybe you can help remind me of other things I can be doing other than working,” Steve says, and there’s a comment about Arto ready to go but then Steve pulls Tony right up against him, one warm palm slipping under his shirt to rest in the small of his back, and the mood takes an abrupt turn.

Tony hums thoughtfully, winding his arms around Steve’s neck, the bright silver of the unfinished gauntlet reflecting the white of Steve’s T-shirt. Part of him is thinking that he should not be getting into this right now because he’s still sort of mad at Steve for getting himself hurt on the mission. The rest of him has missed him so badly that he doesn't have it in him to deny himself. “Remind you how to play? Of things you can play with?”

“You’re terrible,” Steve admonishes, but his fingers are splayed out over Tony’s skin, and the other hand is sliding down to rest on his hip.

“You started this,” Tony says, tipping his head to the side unconsciously as Steve leans in. “I should have expected this, really,” he says, and his eyes drift shut as Steve’s mouth drags over his neck, breath warm and damp. “Your sex-drive has been conspicuous in its absence lately-”

Steve shifts forwards, hand on Tony’s hip pressing them closely together as he bites gently at the underside of Tony’s jaw.

“Oh, there it is,” Tony says. “Welcome back.”

“Thought we weren’t allowed to fool around down here after we broke that MRI prototype?” Steve says.

“We? That was all you,” Tony replies, dropping his bare arm to loop around Steve’s waist, thumb hooking into his belt. “And come on, why would you pick a moment like that to start taking my threats seriously? Steve, not that I’m not loving all of this, but there is a small child in the building who literally comes looking for you when you’ve been gone for ten minutes-”

“Then we’ve got ten minutes,” Steve says. “Clint’s got him.”

“You underhanded, sneaky bastard,” Tony says, pulling at Steve’s belt so he shifts even closer. His other hand rests on Steve’s neck, metal against his skin. He pauses, nods his chin towards the gauntlet. “I need a screwdriver to get this off.”

Steve hums thoughtfully, and then turns his face to press a kiss against the wrist of the gauntlet. “Leave it.” 

Tony feels his stomach swoop and Jesus, he does not know what he’s done to deserve this man. It seems like karma is paying him back for every good deed he’s ever done in one fell swoop today.

“I can keep it on?”

Steve nudges Tony’s cheek with his nose. “You can keep it on. Like you said, we might only get ten minutes.”

“God, I love you,” Tony says fervently. “You are so hot right now, you have no idea-”

Steve kisses him again, probably just to shut him up, smiling against his mouth. “I didn't actually plan this, you know. I wouldn't dump him on Clint just so I could come down here and make out with you." 

“You wouldn’t?”

“No,” Steve says seriously. “If I was going to do that, I’d make sure he had him for at least an hour.”

And Tony is laughing, and Steve is trying to kiss him and laughing as well. The hand on his back slides around to his waist and the other is lifting, thumb brushing against Tony’s jaw, fingers light against his neck. Tony pulls him flush against him, pushing his knee between Steve’s and feeling heat prickle down his spine at the way Steve’s breath catches in his throat, a breathless grunt before he’s kissing Tony harder, coaxing his mouth open-

A loud banging noise makes him jump; he jerks away from Steve and whips around, heart leaping up into his throat.

Clint and Arto are standing at the bottom of the stairs, pressed right up against the glass doors. Arto is on Clint’s shoulders and wearing his sunglasses, and as Steve turns around as well, he smacks his palms onto the glass again before waving. Clint is wearing a shit eating grin, holding onto one of Arto’s ankles with one hand and waving with the other.

“Ten minutes my ass,” Tony grouches, inwardly plotting how he can have Clint Barton murdered. No-one would convict him, he’s sure of it. Steve grimaces and pulls away from Tony, running a hand down his front to straighten his shirt, surreptitiously adjusting his belt as well.

“Do you need five minutes?” Tony asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Don't flatter yourself,” Steve replies. “I’m fine.”

“Good,” Tony says. “Because if he starts with the questions about sex, you’re answering them.”

It’s a lie; he would never leave Steve to the wolves like that but it’s worth it just to see alarm flicker over Steve’s face. Tony snorts with laughter and Steve’s alarm is replaced with exasperation. “Ass.”

The banging starts up again; Tony looks over and see’s Arto is now leaning forwards with his nose squashed against the glass, his breath misting up the windows. Clint is also pulling faces against the window; he’s got his mouth against the glass and is blowing air into his cheeks, though the effect is somewhat ruined by the way he keeps sniggering.

“I thought we were only adopting one,” Tony says wearily.

“Don't, Clint's already started with the dad jokes,” Steve replies, sounding pained. “Jarvis, let them in before Arto breaks the door.”

“Hope we weren’t interrupting anything,” Clint says loudly as the door opens and he steps in.

“There’s a reason your access codes don’t work anymore, you know,” Tony says to him.

 “It wasn’t me in your vent, it was Barnes. I’ve told you that.”

 “Steve! We played a game,” Arto shouts across the room. “I won so I got-” he breaks off and takes the sunglasses off waving them in Steve’s direction.

 “Great. Gambling already,” Tony says flatly, and someone needs to take Arto away from Clint Barton as soon as possible, because he’ll be in no place to make jokes about Sue Storm letting her idiot brother look after her kids if this is what Clint is doing.

 “You got to wear Clint’s sunglasses?” Steve asks, and then seems to decide it doesn’t matter. “Did you eat your sandwich?”

 “Yes and yes,” Clint says, walking over with Arto still perched easily on his shoulders. He must feel pretty well balanced because he’s not even holding onto Clint’s head, but then again the kid seems to have no fear of physical injury anyway, so it might not be much of a marker. “He also ate half of mine, drank a cup of real orange juice and ate like a microgram of banana. Not much but hey, at least there was fruit.”

He lifts his hand and Arto high fives it without hesitation, and once again Tony is grudgingly reminded that Clint is actually pretty awesome at dealing with Arto. Even if he is a terrible influence. 

“So, apart from the obvious and gross stuff, what’s going on down here?” Clint asks.

Arto grins. “Gross,” he echoes, pulling a face.

“Total gross,” Clint agrees, and lifts his eyes to look up at Arto, dropping his voice to a mock whisper. “They were kissing, that’s gross.” 

“Don’t you influence the small child,” Tony says, but Arto is just giggling.

“Gross,” he says, and sticks his tongue out at Tony.

“You wait, brat,” Tony says. “You wait until you are sixteen and then I am going to remind you that you said that." 

Arto’s face crumples in confusion. “Why?”

“You’ll see,” Tony says vaguely. He twists around, reaches for his mug of coffee. “Glad to see you’re in one piece, anyway, Bird-Brain. Where’s your more menacing other half?”

“I don't know,” Clint shrugs. “Not his keeper. Though he was threatening to put me on a leash. Maybe he’s gone to the pet store.”

“Oh, there is so much wrong with you saying that,” Tony says, gulping down his coffee. Steve elbows him and Tony just turns and gives him his best ‘ _tell me I’m wrong’_ face.

“What’s that?”

It’s Arto who shouts, kicking his heels against Clint’s chest and pointing excitedly over the room. They all turn to see what he’s shouting about, and Tony sees Dummy peering around the corner of the cabinet.

“Tony! There’s a robot!”

“That’s Dummy,” Tony says as Clint walks towards him at Arto’s urging. “Dummy, say hello,” he instructs and Dummy opens and closes his claw, whirring cheerfully.

 “Now you say hello back,” Tony says.

 “He’s a real -” Arto breaks off with an excited chirp as Dummy stretches out his arm, whirring inquisitively. His claw opens and closes again and then dips towards Arto’s hand where it’s resting against Clint’s head, sunglasses in his fingers.

Arto cocks his head and then holds them out. Dummy takes them carefully and as Arto’s face splits into a wide grin, Tony feels like his heart has just doubled in size.

There’s a moment of stillness, and then Dummy lets out a triumphant series of beeps and darts away, sunglasses clutched tightly in his grip.

 “Aw, sunglasses, no!” Clint protests. “I’m never getting those back, am I?”

 “I like that you thought you would have luck getting them back from Art,” Tony says matter of factly, and behind him, Steve snorts with laughter. A hand rests on Tony’s hip, gently nudging him out of the way, and Steve sits down in Tony’s vacated seat, reaching back for one of the sandwiches that still sits on the tray.

 “Come back!” Arto shouts, and he pulls at Clint’s hair. “Follow!”

 “He’s not gone far,” Clint says, but steps forwards anyway.

 Arto bounces on his shoulders, and then he looks over and around some more. “A car!” he exclaims, pointing at the partially dismantled Bugatti that’s stacked against the back wall. “Look, Steve!”

 “Yeah, I see it,” Steve calls, and then nudges the back of Tony’s leg with his foot. “Go, this is your chance for the guided tour.”

 Tony nods, grateful for the concession. He reaches for a screwdriver and quickly undoes the gauntlet on his wrist, tossing it to Steve who catches it in one hand and sets it down on the workbench. He walks away from Steve, catching up with Clint and Arto.

 “What’s that?” Arto immediately asks as he steps close, leaning back from Clint’s shoulders and holding out a hand towards Tony. “What is that?”

 “I have no idea what a that is, sorry,” Tony says with a smile, reaching up to catch Arto’s hand.  Arto squeezes his fingers, distracted, and Tony has to reach out with his other hand to grasp his wrist, a gentle reminder. Luckily, Arto lets him go and just points over towards the bright red compressor that’s on the floor next to the stacked wheels for the Bugatti, and then over towards the yellow cabinet that’s against one of the walls.

“Air compressor, tool cabinet,” Tony fills him in, and Arto screws up his face.

“For building,” he says, and his eyes travel across the rest of the tool cabinets, the winches that hang from the ceiling. He twists on Clint’s shoulders and looks over to the desk where Steve sits, eyes tracking over Steve and the holoscreens that are up behind his head, shining blue and bright over his face.

 “Yeah for building,” Tony says.

 “Building robots?”

 “Among other things,” Tony says.

 “Dummy,” Arto calls over the room, and Dummy reappears, sans sunglasses. Arto giggles and waves, and Tony smiles as Dummy waves back. “What’s in there?” Arto asks, and he points to the wall along the back, the compartments embedded into the wall where the inactive Iron Man suits are stored.

“In there?” Tony asks, and without thinking he turns to look at Steve, the question right there. He doesn't even have to say it. Steve is watching him, leaning back against the workbench with his elbows resting on the edge. He’s got a mug balanced on one of his thighs, held in place with the fingers of one hand.

Their eyes meet, and Tony has a fraction of a second to think about what will happen if Steve says no, if he wants to keep Arto away from their superhero lives, if he doesn't think Iron Man is - 

Steve nods.

His eyes are clear, fixed on Tony’s, and he looks calm. Tony isn’t going to insult him by asking again, and besides, he wants to do this. If Steve is serious and wants them both to step up and be parents to Arto, then he can't lie about who he is. Arto knows that Steve is Captain America, and is starting to understand what that means. He needs to know the same about Tony.

“Okay,” Tony says, and turns back to Arto. You remember when you first got here, I told you that we’re all superheroes?” Tony says. 

“Steve is,” Arto replies, and Tony rolls his eyes. 

“Yes, I know Steve is, but Steve is not the only one. Jarvis, open up.”

Arto shifts atop Clint’s shoulders as there’s a barely audibly click and one of the panels opens. It’s the storage container for the Mark Twelve, which is the closest in design to the Mark Nineteen that Tony currently wears and also the first model that’s compatible with the remote system.

For the first time that he can remember, Tony doesn’t watch the compartment opening to reveal the shining red and gold of the armor. Instead, he watches Arto’s face. The bright lights from inside the unit slide across his face, shining on his eyes and his hair. His mouth is slightly open, and he looks like he’s just discovered the damn treasure of the Sierra Madre, all wide eyed wonder and awe.

“It’s a robot man!” he shouts as the panel clicks all the way back, swinging his feet wildly and catching Clint hard enough to drive a pained grunt out of his mouth. Before Tony can say anything, Steve is already there and Arto is toppling off of Clint’s shoulders and into his arms, clinging on around his neck and still staring. Clint nods in thanks, rubbing at his chest where Arto clipped him. He backs off, swapping places with Steve and sitting on the edge of the workbench.

“Steve, look,” Arto whispers, face pressed against Steve’s, cheek to cheek. “It’s a superhero." 

Steve laughs softly, for once not looking uncomfortable with how Arto is invading his personal space. “It’s not the superhero, Tony is,” he says, and Arto frowns, obviously confused.

“Tony, show him,” Steve says, and takes a step back.

“Mark Twelve, J. No helmet. Go.”

Arto makes a loud noise that’s not quite a yell as the pieces all light up. Tony steps forwards and spreads his arms and in moments he’s engulfed in pieces of metal, slotting home with satisfying clicks.

The last piece settles into place and he feels the hum of the suit around him, systems all coming online. God, he’s not been in a suit for so long, it feels like coming home. The feeling intensifies when he turns to look at the others. Steve is smiling quietly and Arto is looking beyond amazed.

“That’s Iron Man,” Steve tells him. “When Tony wears the suit, he’s Iron Man.”

“Tony,” Arto says, insistent. Steve steps closer and Arto reaches out, hesitant. Tony feels a lump in his throat and he feels like his eyes are suspiciously bright as he grins, reaching out to catch Arto’s hand in armored fingers.

“Where - where did it - did you find it?” Arto asks, holding onto Tony’s thumb.

“No, I made it,” Tony says.

“Didn’t,” Arto immediately says, and he tries to push against Tony’s hand but he can’t. “Can’t make this. How did you make this? Did it take - did it take a long time? Did you have to use tools?”

“Yes and yes,” Tony says. Arto leans over towards him, and Steve had to take a hurried step towards Tony to stop Arto from toppling out of his grasp. Arto slumps against Tony’s chest, hands spread out on the red metal. Steve has one arm hooked under Arto’s legs, hand on his back to keep him steady.

“You’re really strong,” Arto says, and Tony nods. He reaches up to take Arto from Steve, and Steve hands him over willingly.

“Strong as Steve when I’m wearing this. Maybe a bit stronger.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Steve says with a small, tired smile. Arto laughs and scrambles around, kneeling on Tony’s arm and holding onto his shoulder.

“Here,” Tony says, and he steps over towards the storage unit, reaching for the helmet. He holds it out to Arto who takes it with both hands, turning it over and peering inside. He looks sideways at Tony and then promptly puts the helmet on; he’s small enough for it to slip straight on without Jarvis having to intervene. Tony laughs, and laughs harder when Jarvis lights the helmet up, the familiar bright blue gleam shining from the eyes. Arto squeaks and flails, twisting around and looking wildly from side to side. He suddenly goes very still, hands clamped onto the sides of the helmet.

“Hello Jarvis,” Arto says, voice muffled. They don’t hear Jarvis’s reply, but Arto starts to laugh.

“What’re they joking about?” Steve asks Tony, but Tony just shrugs.

“No,” Arto laughs, and then there’s a pause and Arto shrieks with laughter.

“J, what are you showing him?”

“Certainly not pictures of you aged six,” Jarvis replies over the speakers, sounding smug and then adding almost as an afterthought, “Sir.”

“Oh no, give it back,” Tony says, reaching for the helmet, but Arto laughs, holding onto the helmet with both hands and tipping himself backwards. Steve lunges forwards to grab him, pushing him back into Tony’s grip and sending Tony a reproachful look.

“Hey, that was entirely his fault,” Tony says, hitching Arto up again. Arto lets go of the helmet with one hand and winds his free arm around Tony’s neck, resting against the edge of the armor. Tony smiles and tips his head against Arto’s, knocking their foreheads together.

“Superhero,” Arto says, and Tony grins.

“You got it.”

He lifts his head away and looks over to Steve. Steve isn’t exactly smiling, but there’s something gentle and careful in his expression that Tony trusts, and the warmth in his chest hold steady, unwavering.

“Thank you,” he mouths to Steve, even as Arto gently butts his armored head against Tony’s temple, giggling madly. God, they are so messed up. He’s got their six year old super-soldier wearing the Iron Man helmet, and any hope of this kid having a normal life here on this earth is pretty much long gone. 

“You’re welcome,” Steve murmurs, and it that moment it doesn’t seem to matter.

 

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Once Upon a time there was a chapter that was 15,000 words long. Even I recognized that that was ridiculous. So I chopped it in two. Sorry?

“No, _that’s_ me. That there is my useless brother.”

Arto screws his face up, looking at Clint like he might make more sense through half-closed eyes. Steve shakes his head, watching as Arto bends his knees, orange socks waving in the air. He and Clint are both lying on the counter on their stomachs, felt pens in hands, and have both declined Steve’s suggestion that they actually sit at the counter like normal human beings.

“You got a brother?”

“Yeah, he lives somewhere else,” Clint replies vaguely, and then taps the paper in front of them again. “I’m the blond, handsome one. _That_ useless ginger tragedy is Barney.”

Steve rolls his eyes, exasperated. Tony’s earlier flippant remark about drawing a family tree had been nothing more than that at the time it tumbled from his mouth, but after the conversations that they’d had, Steve had begun to think that it wasn’t actually such a bad suggestion. Upon voicing the thought to Tony, Tony had immediately turned away and said ‘ _you’re the art department,_ ’ before grabbing hold of the nearest piece of half-built tech he could and starting to dismantle it. Recognising Tony’s evasion as avoidance of a situation that he saw as potentially hurtful, Steve had bitten the bullet and stepped up, arming himself with a sketchpad and felt pens. He’d faltered the moment it had actually come to broaching the subject, but Clint had reappeared out of nowhere to save Steve’s ass, instantly hopping up onto the counter and asking what they were doing.

“You’re giving him a real swell picture of family life,” Steve remarks, sitting back in his chair. The sketchpad on the counter between them currently holds Clint’s family tree, complete with name labels and badly-drawn stick men.

“Dollar in the outdated lingo jar,” Tony shouts from where he’s sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, still messing around with the thing that looks like an oversized circuit board. Steve scowls over at him but Tony isn’t even looking. Bruce just shrugs, sending Steve an apologetic smile. Natasha, who is curled up on the couch next to Bruce with a book in hand, just raises an amused eyebrow.

“Hey, you asked me to draw the kid a family tree,” Clint says, and Steve turns his attention back to the table. “There you have it. Mom, Dad and brother.”

Arto narrows his eyes. “Bar-ney,” he says carefully, and then slaps his hand onto the picture. “Steve.”

Steve looks at him, and Arto meets his eyes, bright and curious. “You do one.”

“No, not me,” Steve says, and then because he's probably a terrible human being sometimes, “Ask Natasha.”

“Natasha?” Arto says, and looks over to where she’s sitting. He looks at her, looks at Clint, looks at her again, and then leans into Clint.

“Ask Natasha to draw one,” he whispers.

“Ask her yourself, Short Round,” Clint says, pushing Arto’s face away from his with a palm on Arto’s forehead. “Get away, you’ve got Cheeto breath.”

“No,” Arto whines, dragging the word out into several syllables, and reaches out and pulls at Clint’s ear. “You.”

“Ow, ow, ow,” Clint replies, wincing, and Arto lets him go. “Alright! Natasha, come draw a family tree!”

“No,” Natasha replies simply.

“Please?” Clint tries.

“I got back from Romania thirty minutes ago,” Natasha says, delicately licking the tip of her finger and turning a page in her book. “I am resting.”

“You’d say no if you’d been sat on your ass all day doing nothing,” Tony points out, and she smiles slowly.

“Possibly. You’ll never know.”

“Go on, indulge the kid,” Tony says. Steve sends him an exasperated look, because being here with them instead of at SHIELD or in her own quarters right now _is_ Natasha indulging them, and she can’t be expected to give any more if she doesn’t want to.

“Mind if I join in?” Bruce says unexpectedly, rising a little awkwardly from his seat. Arto looks at him, surprised, then at Steve. Steve nods and Arto wordlessly shifts up onto his knees and holds out a felt pen.

Bruce walks over and Steve smiles gratefully at him, though it’s tempered with slight guilt, because the others are only being asked to join in because he’s avoiding the moment where he will have to.

“Okay,” Bruce says, flipping the page on the sketchpad. “Mine’s a bit bigger,” he says, and writes his name carefully in the centre of the page. “No pictures from me, I’m afraid.”

Arto just nods, watching enraptured as Bruce adds on his parents, aunts and uncles and cousins, explaining the levels and generations as he goes. He does it neatly, clinically, no wavering over any of the names that he adds. Steve thinks that Arto actually follows most of it, listening hard as Bruce explains. 

“There,” he says to Arto. “My family tree.”

“Where are they?” Arto asks.

Bruce looks down, carefully putting the lid back on the felt-tip. He clears his throat. “Some have died,” he says simply. “Some are still around. Just not here with me.”

“These are biological family trees anyway,” Clint says. “Means who you’re blood related to. You don’t have to be biologically related to someone for them to be family though.”

Steve looks over at Tony. He’s still working on the circuit board, head dipped low over it, and Steve would bet his shield that he’s listening in but using the board as an excuse not to come over and get involved right now. Just like him to still put himself within earshot of the emotionally risky situation that he was adamant he didn’t want to be anywhere near.

Steve looks back to Arto, who is listening to Clint, enraptured.

“Family loves you,” Clint says. “And you love them. And that’s what matters.”

He reaches out and takes the felt pen from Bruce. “Look,” he says. “Let’s draw Steve’s.”

Steve’s heart skips in his chest, the back of his neck feeling warm. He doesn’t say anything though, just raises an eyebrow at the crude stick man that Clint draws, complete with shield.

“Steve has a biological Mom and Dad,” Clint says. “Sarah and…?”

“Joseph,” Steve fills in, the word clicking in his throat. “He died when I was little.”

“Okay, so there’s Steve’s biological family,” Clint says, and deftly fills in the lines in green felt pen. “Green pen for biologicky stuff. But that’s not his whole family. Who else do you reckon we should put on?”

A thrill of alarm runs through Steve. “Clint.”

“Steve,” Clint replies, sounding completely unconcerned.

“ _Clint_ ,” Steve insists, and reaches out to take the felt pen from him. Clint resists, tightening his hold as much as he possibly can, not that he could stop Steve if he were properly determined.

“I assume this was the eventual point of this?” Clint says, and Steve lets go of the pen.

“Okay,” he says a little helplessly, hoping that Clint knows what the hell he’s doing.

“Alright, who else goes on here?”

“Tony,” Arto says immediately. Steve's stomach skips, a quick tug of emotion behind his navel, remembering what Tony said earlier about not forcing anything on Arto.

“Okay, Clint agrees, and writes Tony next to Steve’s name, and draws another stick figure above the name, this one with a circle in the middle of its chest and a van-dyke. Arto giggles and Bruce bites back a smile. “Definitely not green for biologics. What colour shall we use for people that are not married but might as well be married?”

“This one,” Arto says with a pink felt pen in hand, and he’s there already, leaning over and drawing a line between the drawings of Tony and Steve.

“This is an official document, right?” Clint quips. Steve ignores him, eyes on the pink line that Arto’s drawn.

“Brother!” Arto chirps, and looks crestfallen when Steve shakes his head.

“Just me,” he says, and he absently picks up a pen and starts sketching in a figure above where Clint has written Sarah Rogers. “Though if anyone would go in the brother spot it would be Bucky.”

“Hmm,” Arto pulls a noncommittal face, a quick shrug of a shoulder, waving his feet as he watches Steve finish the sketch. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Steve asks.

“Bucky,” Arto says. “Blue.”

He scrambles around and grabs the blue felt pen. “Blue for not biologics.”

“Oh, right,” Steve says as Clint sniggers, looking rather too pleased with himself. “Okay then.”

He moves his hand, draws a quick sketch of Bucky on his other side, complete with metal arm. He debates drawing a scowl on Bucky’s face but quickly decides against it, instead filling in the face with a lazy smile.

“Blue,” Arto reiterates, and he leans over to draw a blue line between Steve and Bucky.

“Got it,” Clint says. “Now where are you going?”

Arto doesn’t even hesitate. “Here,” he says, and he points underneath Steve.

“Stick man or a Steve drawing?”

“Steve drawing.”

Steve nods and leans over to draw a picture of Arto. It’s like drawing a picture of himself, and he adds a star to Arto’s chest as well as doodling a teddy-bear with a domino mask in his hand.

“Bucky bear!” Arto laughs, and shuffles on his knees closer to Steve. “Looks like me.”

“Oh good, it was supposed to,” Steve says mildly, and then hesitates. “You gonna draw the line?”

“Yep,” Arto says. Steve can feel Clint’s eyes on him but doesn’t look up, because Arto’s already spoken to Clint about how he sees Steve, and now it’s going to be out there for all of them to see. His heart is thudding a little more strongly in his chest than it was.

Arto shifts next to him and grabs the green pen. He doesn’t even hesitate before he leans over and draws a line from Steve down to the sketch of himself.

Well, he knows for definite then.

Steve tries to swallow around the lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. Arto just hums and reaches around for the blue pen. Wordless, Steve watches as Arto draws a second line, parallel to the first. A blue line, going from Tony down to the picture of himself.

Clint says something to Arto, but Steve doesn’t even register. He’s staring at the two lines, and this is it, this is his life now. He and Tony are not married but might as well be married, and they’ve got a kid-

Out of nowhere, strong hands slide onto his shoulders and squeeze. He blinks and reaches for one of the hands, covering it with his own and pressing down.

“What are we up to over here?” Tony asks, and he leans closer so his front is pressed against the back of Steve’s chair, hands still gripping his shoulders. “Oh for – who drew that? I do not look like that.”

“Clint,” Arto grins, and then shoves the black felt pen towards Steve. “Clint – can you draw Clint?”

Steve blinks at him. “You want me to draw Clint on here?”

“Yes,” Arto says impatiently, and he jabs his finger onto the page in a spot near the doodle Steve had done of Arto. “Here.”

“Give the brat what he wants,” Tony murmurs.

“Not sure that’s a precedent I want to be setting,” Steve replies, blowing out a breath. Tony chuckles behind him, resting an elbow on Steve’s shoulder and curling his arm around so his palm is on top of his head. Next to him, Bruce carefully puts the caps back on top of a felt pen before retreating, going back to sit near Natasha.

“Draw Clint,” Arto insists again, jabbing Steve’s arm with the pen.

“Say please,” Tony remarks, and Arto scowls.

“ _Please_.”

It's almost belligerent, the way Arto says it. Steve notices but capitulates anyway, taking the pen and quickly drawing a sketch of Clint where Arto had indicated.

“Aw, I do not look-” Clint begins to protest, but stops talking as Arto promptly grabs the blue pen and draws a horizontal line connecting him to Clint. “Oh, wow,” he says, eyebrows lifting as he stares down at the picture.

“Not biologics,” Arto explains, and reaches out to push his fingers into Clint’s hair. "Like Steve and Bucky, but I'm small."

Clint laughs, looking down, cheeks flushing pink. “Okay,” he says. “Okay, you got it.” His mouth twists in something that might have been a smile or the start of a sentence, and then he presses his lips together hard for a moment, before looking up at Steve.

“Hey, I told you this meant that you’re-”

“No,” Steve says before he can finish. “Absolutely not.”

“Seconded,” Tony adds, and he moves his arm so they’re both dangling over Steve’s shoulders, arms straight and wrists lax, fingers relaxed and curled gently. Steve catches hold of his hands, not even caring that this is a whole new level of hands-on that they’re showing in front of everyone. “And motion carried.”

“I know where I’m not wanted,” Clint sighs, and he pushes back, sliding off the counter. He lands neatly on the balls of his feet and then wanders towards Natasha, still blushing faintly and rubbing at the back of his head. “You can shut up,” he says to her as he goes, but he’s smiling and doing a bad job of hiding it. Steve watches him go, feeling both proud of Clint and strangely pleased for him. Despite Tony’s frequent complaints – and Clint’s terrible sense of self-preservation – Steve finds he’s more than happy to have Arto writing Clint in as a brother-type figure, just as he did for Bucky.

“You draw Natasha and Bruce here,” Arto says to Steve, pointing to two new spots on the page. “They’re here, but they don’t have lines.”

“Why do they not have lines?” Tony asks.

“Okay, they can have yellow lines,” Arto says, grabbing the yellow pen and starting to join everyone on the diagram, bar Steve’s parents. Arto’s yellow lines loop and curve all over the place, around the doodles and sketches.

“Do tell what yellow lines are,” Tony says as Steve starts on two quick sketches of Natasha and Bruce. “The anticipation is killing me.”

“Friend lines,” Arto says promptly. He draws yellow lines connecting nearly everyone. He pauses when he gets to Bucky, and Steve internally curses and wonders what the fuck he should say, but Tony gets there first.

“If you dare miss Bucky’s yellow line after everything he’s done for you these past few days, we will be having words,” he says mildly. Arto blinks up at him, and then a small frown crosses his face.

“You shouted at him,” he says, sounding somewhat accusatory.

“Yes, because I was scared,” Tony says bluntly. “He kept you safe and you know it. And you know what, sometimes friends do things you don’t like. So do family. Doesn’t mean they’re not your friends or family.”

Arto huffs, and for a moment Steve thinks he’s going to refuse, but then he reaches over and draws a line between him and Bucky. He cocks his head contemplative, and then draws a yellow line between Clint and Bucky.

“Should be yellow?” he asks, and Steve feels Tony snort with laughter.

“Damned if I know, kid,” he says. “Ask Clint.”

Clint twists around from his position sprawled on the couch. “Ask Clint what?”

“Nothing,” Steve interjects hastily.

“Oh, come on,” Tony says, but Steve shakes his head.

“Yellow,” he says firmly to Arto, who just shrugs and drops the pen back onto the counter, kneeling up and stretching.

“Can I play with Clint?” he asks.

“Sure, go for it,” Tony says. “Do not touch the thing on the coffee table.”

Arto nods and slides off of the counter, heading towards the others. Instead of walking around and through the gap between the two large couches, he opts for jumping up and scrambling over the back of the couch. There’s a moment in which Steve thinks he’s going to pitch himself off backwards, but he manages to right himself. With one last kick he rolls over the back of the couch and Steve hears an _‘ooft’_ from Clint as Arto lands with a thump.

“Well, there we go,” Tony says. “I guess you were right.”

“I guess I was,” Steve says and glances over towards Arto, who has scrambled all the way off of Clint and the couch, and is sneaking furtive glances at the circuit boards. “He’s edging closer to the thing on the coffee table.”

“Barton, distract,” Tony calls, without looking away from Steve.

“Got it,” he shouts back, hand in the air with a thumb up. “Anyone for MarioKart? Ah ah, you can play Mariokart if you step away from the coffee table.”

Steve watches as Arto gives the whatever on the coffee table one last interested look, and then backs away and dives onto the sofa, scrambling up between Clint and Natasha. Clint hands him a controller, which he looks at and then holds it hesitantly out to Natasha. She surveys him carefully for a moment and then closes her book and takes the controller.

“Suck up,” Clint says, and Arto elbows him. Clint elbows him back before handing over another controller, and Steve makes a mental note to remind Clint that Arto is only six.

Fingertips stroke across his cheekbones, down towards his chin. He allows Tony to turn his face around, holding his chin in his fingers.

“Thank you,” Tony says, fingers still on Steve’s jaw. “For that. The family tree thing.”

Steve just shrugs. “Had to do it.”

Tony pulls a face. “Had to? You’re making it sound like the most awful experience of your life. And your bar for bad experiences is pretty high.”

Steve very consciously and deliberately holds his temper in check. It would be so, so easy to snap back at Tony, to stand up and demand Tony explain what the hell he meant by that. Steve has quit his damn job for Arto’s sake today, and Steve will not appreciate it if Tony starts pushing for more so soon.

He reaches up to remove Tony’s fingers from his face, pressing his palm against Tony’s and allowing Tony to push his fingers between Steve’s. He mulls it over for a moment. “What do you want me to say?”

“That you’re enjoying being back here with him,” Tony says bluntly and without a hint of apology, folding his fingers through Steve’s.

Steve draws in a slow breath. He’s not going to lie – the word enjoyment hasn’t even crossed his mind since he got back, and drawing the family tree with Arto was more an exercise in hiding fear than fun.

The thought of enjoying this still seems like such an abstract concept to him, something just out of his reach.

“I liked seeing how happy he was in the workshop earlier,” he finally says. “And making lunch together was – I just.” He stops, looks around to check no-ones listening. “I’m trying, okay? You know I am - I quit my damn job for this. I’m just – I barely know him, I barely know how to deal with him.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Tony says, and he slides his free hand onto the side of Steve’s face again, thumb stroking against his cheekbone. “You think any of us really know how to deal with him?”

“You started looking,” Steve says, remembering the screens he’d found down in Tony’s workshop, the research he’d been doing.

“Didn’t get very far,” Tony grimaces. “There could be ten thousand things wrong with him, and I’m not an expert.”

“Coulson said he could get us some help,” Steve says. “I think we need to take him up on that.”

Tony pulls a face. “Give me a few days, I could probably work it out.”

“Okay, let me rephrase,” Steve says. “We are going to take him up on that.”

Tony narrows his eyes. “That’s your Captain America voice,” he says. “Why are you using your Captain America voice on me?”

“Because you never listen,” Steve says, and he pulls Tony close by their joined hands. “You literally just said you’re not the expert, so let someone who is do the work.”

Pulling a face, Tony appears to concede. “Alright,” he says grudgingly. “As long as we can get them here sooner rather than later. We need a better strategy than Bucky pinning him down when he flips his lid.”

Steve nods, and he lets go of Tony’s hand to pull him in by his hips, resting his forehead on the arc reactor. “We’ll work it out,” he says, and he knows it’s true because quite simply there is no other option. Arto isn’t going back, he can’t go anywhere else, he’s staying with Steve and that is that.

“Work it out before Pepper gets here later?” Tony says, and the casual tone of his voice easily gives away his apprehension. “I think she’s expecting me to have it all figured out. Or she’s expecting me to have nothing sorted out, which will just be proving her point.”

Steve doesn’t ask which point that might be. He knows what’s at stake here.

He lifts his head up, tilting his face up so he can see Tony. Tony’s arms settle around his neck, arms braced on his shoulders. “You really think it’ll be a problem?”

Tony is silent for a long moment. “I don’t know,” he finally says, and Steve doesn’t know what to say. It’s the exact opposite of what he’s been through; his friends have been nothing but supportive of Arto and have been the ones dragging his sorry ass up to speed. To want nothing but the best for Arto but to be unsure if everyone will support you…it can’t be easy.

He strokes his thumbs across Tony’s waist. “It’ll be fine,” he says, and he actually sounds like he means it. “Anyone with half a brain can see that you’re doing right by him.”

“Unfortunately Pepper has more than half a brain, she has an entire brain which is heavily involved with running my company,” Tony says. “She’s not going to see this as a good thing.”

Steve doesn’t try and convince Tony otherwise. His mouth twists contemplatively, and then he breathes out, leaning in and pressing his mouth to the side of the arc reactor. Scowling, Tony pushes his head away.

“Get off.”

Steve leans back, raising an eyebrow. Tony looks away, shaking his head and frowning. He looks harassed and pinched, and Steve wishes he could take the look away. He knows what he normally does when Tony looks like that, but coaxing him up to the penthouse and into bed isn’t really an option right now.

Honestly, he feels at a bit of a loss about exactly what to do this time.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Tony suddenly says abruptly, and Steve thinks that maybe he doesn’t actually have to do anything except just be here.

“Me too,” he says, and he slides his knees apart so he can pull Tony closer, one arm sliding around his waist. Over at the television, Arto lets out a shriek as something happens on the game, and Steve hastily looks over. Arto is now standing on the cushions next to Clint, bouncing slightly as he plays.

“I’m thinking that I possibly need to take him back off Clint before Pepper gets here,” he says. “Try something less likely to end in violence and bloodshed?”

“Please do,” Tony says fervently, and he places his hands on Steve’s forehead and smooths his hair back off his brow. “Maybe a bath. He likes baths.”

Steve sighs, and deliberately does not say how much he does not want to have to put Arto through the bath considering what he saw last time. “Then how come he always looks like he’s never been within ten feet of one?”

Tony smiles faintly at that, and Steve feels oddly proud of himself. The pinched look has vanished from Tony’s face at any rate. And hey, look at that; Steve didn’t even have to take any clothes off.

“Yeah,” Tony says absently, thinking hard. “Calmer the better, really. And if you’ve got him, at least if he does go he’s not going to be able to break anything or anyone.”

“He’s not going to go,” Steve says. “Look at him. He's fine.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Tony says, and he turns his head to watch Arto for a moment.

Steve feels his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulls it out and when he sees the name on the display, he grimaces and holds it up for Tony to see.

“Coulson?” Tony asks. “Something about the mess in Bucharest?”

“Possibly,” Steve says, standing up. “Maybe that. Maybe something to do with the fact I basically just told Fury to shove his job up his ass.”

“Could well be that,” Tony says, mouth twitching in a smile. “You’re not going to go back on that, right?”

Steve looks at him flatly. “Stop thinking so little of me.”

“Hey, you’re the one who thinks you can’t do this, not me,” Tony says emphatically.

“Fair point,” Steve says. “Be back when I’ve dealt with this.”

Tony nods and Steve ducks out of the room, answering his phone as he does. “Coulson.”

“Hello, Captain,” Coulson replies evenly. “How’s the chest?”

“Fine,” Steve says, not really wanting to waste time with small talk. “Healing. What can I do for you?”

“I hear you’re on extended leave,” Coulson says, and yep, just what Steve suspected he would be calling for. “And Fury has asked me to confirm with you that we are okay to contact Agent Barnes about taking point on the Hydra project, because he, and I quote, doesn’t want to hear your self-righteous voice ever again.”

Steve snorts derisively. “He genuinely pissed or is he trying to guilt trip me into coming back?”

“Probably both,” Phil says.

“He can bluster all he likes, I’m not coming back on this,” Steve says mildly, even though saying it makes him feel like he’s reached the bottom of a staircase and missed a step.

“Okay. Confirmation, and I will call Barnes within the hour.”

Steve doesn’t hesitate. “Confirmed.”

There’s the faint sound of movement on the other end of the phone, the rustling of papers and what sounds like fingertips tapping on a screen. “You sure about this?” Phil asks calmly.

“Yes,” Steve lies. “I can’t be away from home right now-”

“You are dealing with an illegally imported super-soldier from another dimension,” Coulson says. “As far as I’m concerned, that is your mission. It’s not like you’re sitting around with your feet up.”

Steve laughs softly. “Well, when you put it like that,” he says, and pauses. “Any chance you can sort me some paperwork out for the illegally imported super-soldier?”

“Depends what your paperwork wants to say.”

Steve rubs at his mouth. There’s literally no point putting this off any more; between them they’ve settled exactly who everyone is to Arto, and it’s not like having official paperwork can make it any more real than the family tree Arto’s just drawn. “He’s biologically my son,” Steve says, dropping his hand from his mouth. “Born through IVF using stolen DNA. Mother died in childbirth, not named on Hydra’s records.”

“Okay,” Coulson says. "Happy with the public knowing he was raised by Hydra? Could be a possibility for fallout.”

“There’s going to be fallout either way,” Steve points out. “What am I supposed to do, say I knew about him and kept him secret for six years?”

“I imagine people will be more sympathetic to you if they know you rescued him from Hydra, not that you kept him locked away for six years.”

Steve smiles wryly. “Ever considered a new career in PR?”

“Working with the Avengers is fifty percent PR,” Phil replies, and Steve isn’t altogether sure that the figure is a lie. “Okay, you send me the DNA profile that Banner did, and I can sort the rest. You want me to schedule a meeting with Doctor Amir? The psychologist I spoke to Tony about?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’d also suggest putting in a visit to Xavier,” Coulson says.

Steve goes still, brow knitting in a frown. “Xavier?” he asks, and he knows the doubt is obvious in his voice.

“Yeah. He’s worked with countless troubled children. And you never know, he might be able to get through to Arto in a way you haven’t yet.”

The implication makes Steve rear back.  “I’m not having a telepath poking around in Arto’s head,” he says abruptly.

“It’s not as dramatic as it sounds,” Phil says calmly. “Just like a conversation that you have without actually speaking.”

“Not a chance.”

“Have you ever actually met with Xavier one to one?” Phil asks simply, and Steve knows that he already knows the answer.

“No, but,” Steve begins. “The whole telepathy thing – that’s not-”

He breaks off, unsure how to put it into words. He’s wary of telepaths, always has been. Hates the lack of control he has over their actions and the way they interact with other people. But he knows a lot of the other Avengers have all met with Xavier or come across other telepaths, and Logan tolerates him and he’s about as willing to surrender control over things as Steve is.

Okay. Maybe this is his issue he needs to work out. “Okay, I’ll think about it,” Steve concedes.

“Do. I think it would be useful,” Coulson says simply, leaving the decision up to Steve. “I assume you want all this kept quiet for now?”

“Yes,” Steve says. “At least until Tony has spoken to Pepper.” 

“Okay,” Coulson says again. “Leave it with me.”

It feels like a weight off of Steve’s shoulders. “Can we leave Fury out of this?”

“You don’t think he needs to know?”

“All he needs to know is that Arto is from this dimension and that he is biologically mine,” Steve says deliberately.

“Understood,” Phil says. “Okay, I got to go. Speak to you later, Steve.”

“Thanks, Phil,” Steve replies, and then hangs up. He taps it thoughtfully against his mouth, and then the sound of a throat clearing behind him makes him turn around.

“Am I going to be getting a call?” Bucky says, leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest. He’s probably been stood there for the entirely of the conversation, but Steve has neither the energy nor the wherewithal to be pissed at him about it.

“Yeah." 

Bucky nods neutrally. “You sure about this?”

“Oh god no,” Steve says. With a short laugh. “But I’ve got to put him first, Buck.”

“Told you,” Bucky says simply. “Knew it’d take you a while, but you’re getting there.”

Steve looks down. “I don’t want to put this on you if you-”

“You know I’d do anything to help you out,” Bucky says. “By my books, I still owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything. I’m serious, Buck. I said that to Fury in the heat of the moment-”

“Oh Jesus Steve, you make it sound like jetting around the world whaling on Hydra is something I wouldn’t want to do,” Bucky says, impatient. “Let me at them.”

“It’s not just going at them, Buck,” Steve tries to tell him, but Bucky is still looking somewhere between annoyed and amused and Steve knows he isn’t listening one bit. “You’d be in charge, directing other people, making the calls.”

“I know, I know. I can do in charge,” Bucky says dismissively.

“Bucky,” Steve says, exasperated. “I’m serious. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I can’t believe those words are coming out of your mouth,” Bucky laughs incredulously. “Dude, this is the speech you give to idiots like Barton. Not me. You can’t knock me on my ass on your best day, don’t think I’m gonna let Hydra get the jump on me.”

“Oh come on. I've knocked you on your ass on more than one occasion,” Steve says. “And cut Clint some slack. He saved my ass on that last mission.”

“Don’t you defend him,” Bucky says irritably, and Steve can’t help but wonder if that damn line should be yellow after all.

“You’ve yelled and punched him in the mouth,” Steve says, and steps forwards to clap Bucky on the shoulder. “Let it go.”

Bucky pulls a face, but does appear to momentarily concede. He blows out a breath in a huff of sound. “What’s this I hear about Stark buying dinner?”

“Stark is buying dinner,” Steve confirms. “And Pepper is coming, so you have to behave.”

“No flirting, no ass jokes, no weapons at the table, gottit,” Bucky says, and Steve sighs.

“I remember the days where you were the well behaved one.”

“What can I say, Bucky Barnes two point oh has a twisted sense of humor,” Bucky grins. “Must be the Winter Soldier flavored part.”

“That will never be funny,” Steve grouches.

Bucky’s smile goes lopsided. “It’s always funny.”

“Not funny,” Steve reiterates.

Bucky shakes his head at him, smile turning exasperated around the edges. “You need to lighten up,” he says in a tone of voice that sounds horribly like he’s giving advice. “You’ve got your man, you’ve got a kid, you’re still Captain America. You’ve hit the jackpot, pal. All those things you wanted? Family, check. Ability to save the world, check. Not keeling over every time you lift a feather pillow or breathe in and out the wrong way? Check.”

“Okay, you made your point,” Steve says, ducking his head like he’s still five foot nothing and being yelled at for getting in another back-alley brawl.

Bucky just scowls. “Yeah, I made it but I still don’t think you’re listening to it.”

“I am listening,” Steve insists. “I just – yeah, I’ve got all those things, but they’re things that don’t fit together.”

Bucky stares at him like he’s an idiot. “You stupid?” he asks. “Get out there – they are fitting. They’re fitting right there under your nose.”

“Steve!”

A shout from the end of the corridor has him turning around before he can argue his point with Bucky. Still clutching the games controller in one hand, Arto runs down the corridor towards him, and Steve has to hastily stoop down and grab him before Arto barrels into his knees. He scoops him up and sets him on his hip, grabbing Arto’s wrist so he doesn't get hit in the face with the hunk of plastic.

“Natasha won,” Arto tells him, sounding wounded. “Steve, she won.”

“Yeah, she always wins,” Steve says patiently.

“Don’t even wanna play anymore,” Arto grouches, and Steve feels a weak smile hitch the corner of his mouth.

“Can't win every time.”

“Huh, maybe you should tell you that someday,” Bucky says innocently, and Steve scowls at him.

“Maybe you should-” he begins, but stops himself before he can tell Bucky to shut up. Bucky seems to know exactly what he was planning; his face breaks into a grin.

“What’s that?” he asks innocently. “Gonna finish that sentence, Rogers?”

Steve just gives up, shaking his head. Arto mimics him, shaking his head from side to side, grinning as he leans in and presses his forehead against Steve’s.

“Green,” he whispers. Steve’s stomach twists, but it’s not altogether bad. Behind him, he hears Bucky walking away towards the communal area, and he’s thankful for the privacy.

“Green,” he murmurs back, and Arto hums happily, rolling his forehead against Steve’s.

“Can we play?”

Steve shuts his eyes for a moment, before pulling back. Without thinking, he reaches up and smooths a hand over Arto’s blond hair. “Sure,” he says, and in that moment it's easy. “We can play.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wonderful [Apitnobaka](http://apitnobaka.tumblr.com/) made the family tree that the boys make into [a gorgeous piece of artwork](http://apitnobaka.tumblr.com/post/111559519877/green-pen-for-biologicky-stuff-blue-for-not). Go and have a look and share some love!


	15. Chapter 15

Tony turns the wrench over and over in his hands, the repetitive action soothing as he watches the video feed on one of his monitors, projected large above his workbench. The other avengers are all assembled on the communal floor, and Steve and Clint are playing a game of snakes and ladders with Arto. He seems happy enough, laughing and bouncing up and down when he rolls the dice, moving everyone’s counters for them and pouting whenever someone else wins. He seems in a clingy mood, sitting on Steve’s knee and pulling at his hands and shirt whenever he feels Steve’s attention is elsewhere. Steve, the fucking saint, endures it more or less patiently.

Down in the workshop, Tony eyes the clock on his phone for the fifth time in under a minute. He breathes out through his teeth, wishing firstly that he could stop feeling so damn nervous and secondly that Pepper would hurry the fuck up and get there already.

The jet landed over an hour and a half ago, which means she’ll be here any moment. And with her will come the questions, the doubts, the disbelief.

Restless, he taps the wrench against the edge of his workbench, pressing against it so his fingers slide the length, warmed metal under his fingers. A beep from over by the tool cabinets draws his attention and he looks up to see Dummy peering at him, holding Clint’s sunglasses in his claw.

Tony snorts tiredly. “You better be on best behaviour,” he says. “Last thing I need is you trying Pepper’s patience as well.”

Dummy beeps sadly, arm drooping, and Tony sighs. Great. He can’t even keep a damn bot happy, and he’s supposed to be convincing Pepper that he can raise a small child and live up to being Captain America’s other half.

“Sir, Miss Potts has arrived in the tower.”

Jarvis speaks quietly, calmly, but Tony’s stomach still lurches.

“Send her down,” Tony replies, slouching back in his chair. He looks at the video feed again, watching as Steve makes a drink with Arto standing on the counter behind him, leaning over one of his shoulders. He wriggles forwards, toes just brushing the counter and he almost tips all the way over –Tony has a moment in which he imagines Arto flipping all the way, feet catching the coffee pot and sending everything crashing off the edge, burning everyone with coffee and probably smacking his head against the cupboards mid-fall – but Steve catches him easily, one large hand in the small of Arto’s back, keeping him draped over his shoulder. He finishes making his drink one-handed and says something to Arto who nods vigorously, patting his palms against Steve’s stomach. Steve walks them both over to the couches, letting Arto slither down his back onto the cushions before sitting next to him. 

He still doesn’t look like he’s enjoying it, but he’s dealing with it. It’s not exactly what Tony wants, but he supposes that for now it’ll have to do. He just hopes that Steve can keep it together long enough to-

He hears the glass door to the workshop slide open, and his thoughts stop. He holds his breath and then turns towards the door.

“Hey, Pep.”

She stands in the doorway, tall and beautiful in jeans and a white blouse. “Hi, Tony,” she says quietly, and her smile is fleeting but genuine. “Didn’t think you’d be down here.”

“You know me,” Tony says as she steps over the threshold and into the lab, stepping softly in a pair of pumps, her usual heels conspicuously absent. “Where else would I be hiding?”

“Hiding?” Pepper asks, and she drops her bag down by her feet.

“Feeling intense amounts of emotional pressure,” Tony clarifies, tossing the wrench he’d been fiddling with onto the workbench with a clatter.  “Besides, the team floor is swarming and I thought we’d be better off without an audience.”

Pepper nods, looking down at her feet, and then she slowly walks over. God, Tony’s missed her. He always misses her when she’s not about, but after a few days together they usually end up remembering why they don’t spend lots of time together anymore. It usually culminates in Tony doing or saying something that renders Pepper so frustrated she’s beyond shouting, and then she leaves for them to have the space to pointedly ignore each other for a month before getting back around to missing each other again.

It’s a good system. Tony’s quite proud of it.

Pepper walks all the way over and bends down to kiss his cheek before straightening up, tucking her hair behind her ear. She glances at the video feed.

“Is Arto up there?”

“Steve’s got him.”

Pepper nods. “I can’t,” she begins, and then laughs softly, the sound far too depreciating. “I can’t imagine Steve with a kid.”

So, they’re getting straight into it then. Tony doesn’t mind; he hates small talk anyway.

“Oh come on. You’ve seen him. They look exactly the same.”

Pepper stops just beside him and leans back against the workbench, head turned so she’s looking directly at the video screen. Arto is now easily visible, tucked up against Steve’s side with his fingers in his mouth and face turned towards the television. Steve is sipping from his mug, listening to something Bucky is saying. Natasha is also visible, curled up near Steve and Arto and also looking towards where Bucky is sprawled out on the other couch, one leg dangling lazily off the edge.

“It’s not about that,” Pepper says. “It’s – he’s always been so work focused. You told me that.”

“He quit working for SHIELD today,” Tony tells her and Pepper looks surprised.

“He did?”

“He wants to be here with Arto,” Tony says. “He’s still an Avenger, but he’s officially not on the market for Fury to lease out anymore.”

Pepper doesn’t reply to that. She just nods and carries on watching the screen. Clint wanders into view; Bucky kicks at his legs and Clint dodges out of the way before dropping to sit on the floor next to him. Arto says something, his free hand stretching up above his head, and Steve leans back to avoid getting poked in the face.

“He’s settled well,” Tony says, unable to keep quiet. “Well, mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“He’s got some issues,” Tony says honestly, because this is Pepper and he’s learned the hard way that lying to her never works out for him. “So would you if you’d been raised in a lab by Hydra for the first six years of your life.”

A pained expression crosses Pepper’s face, and she folds her arms across her chest, hands curled around her upper arms.  “I don’t think you’ve thought this through,” she says, turning to look at him. “Steve, Arto, any of it.”

Tony looks away, back at the screen. Something in his gut twists, angry and unhappy.

“Okay. What’s your problem here? The kid, or Steve?”

“What do you mean, what’s my problem? I don’t have a problem-”

“Of course you have a problem,” Tony replies tersely. “I’m just trying to work out if it’s Arto or Steve that you’re objecting to.”

“Both,” Pepper snaps back, and then steadies herself. “Both, if they’re not what you want.”

Tony feels some of his anger bleed away. “They are, Pep.”

Pepper doesn’t reply for a long time. Finally, she reaches out and Tony takes her hand.

“I always knew there was something between you and Steve,” she admits. “But it always seemed – it was you wanting him. Even when you hated him, you were so fiercely protective over him. Like the only bad words against him that were allowed were yours. And all I saw was this, this awful pissing match between the two of you that was hurting you more than you let on.”

“Hey, I gave as good as I got,” Tony shrugs, purposefully avoiding how close to home those words hit.

“I’m sure you did,” Pepper says, squeezing his hand, looking down at their joined fingers. “But I only saw that it was hurting you. Thank god that petered out when it did.”

“Well, it may not have exactly petered out, more have been redirected,” Tony says, scratching his head.

Pepper sighs and drops his hand. “Angry sex?”

“Angry sex,” Tony confirms. “Which led to not so angry sex which led to something that was definitely not dating but I’m now pretty sure was?”

“Which led to him moving in and you ending up with a child?” Pepper asks. “That’s an awful lot to happen accidentally, Tony.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony says. “You’ve gotta believe me though, Pep. If I didn’t want to be with him and be doing this, I wouldn’t. If he didn’t want to be with me and do this, he most certainly wouldn’t.”

“And you’re sure of that?”

“I love him, Pep,” Tony says, the words tumbling out, fragile and exposed. “And he loves me more than he knows what to do with.”

Pepper meets his eyes, quietly repeating herself. “You’re sure of that?”

Tony hesitates, and immediately curses himself for doing so. She seems to have gotten right down to his very core again, because it was only a few days ago that he wasn’t certain about him and Steve, that he was left thinking that neither of them were sure.

“Tony?”

Great, now she sounds even more worried.  “I am sure,” he says, thinking of the family tree that’s currently stuck on the refrigerator upstairs. “But we never – we never talked about it. Never even thought about it. It was just me and him and that’s what it was…” He trails off, glancing back to the video screen. “Arto made us talk about it. We couldn’t exactly carry on just winging it with him around.”

“Tony Stark makes a commitment,” Pepper says dryly. “I’ll notify the PR team.”

“I can do this, Pepper,” he says. “You know I can.”

“I do _not_ know you can,” Pepper says. “I have never seen you interact with small children, and you usually avoid commitment like you’re allergic-”

“That’s unfair.”

“Perfectly fair,” Pepper argues. “Tony, you have to see why I’m worried.”

“No, I don’t,” Tony says, and his heart is pounding as he says it, thudding under the arc reactor. “I don’t have to see it. I see me and Steve working things out, and actually agreeing that this kid, this wonderful kid who has already been through hell at the hands of hydra, is going to be ours, and we’re going to do right by him.”

“This is all just talk,” Pepper says bluntly. “How long has he actually been here? This isn’t just another project, Tony. This is a _child_.”

“I know all that.”

“Do you?” Pepper challenges. “You do this, and you are going to spend the rest of your life putting him first. Not yourself anymore, not Iron Man. Him. And you could sacrifice it all for him, and you are still going to be in Steve’s pocket, because he’s Arto’s biological father, not you.”

For a moment, Tony doesn't even think he can reply to that. “Way to take everything good and right in my life and turn it into something that’s going to end in misery,” he says quietly.

Pepper’s expression turns agonized. “Tony that’s _not_ what I’m trying to do.”

“You’re trying to be practical and pragmatic.”

“Oh, like they’re such bad things to be, especially if you’re going to be a parent.”

“I already said this,” Tony interrupts angrily. “If all you’re going to do is try and make me change my mind-”

“I’m not, I’m just pointing out that you can’t just – do what you do and throw money-”

“And if all you’re going to do is turn what I’ve done for that kid into something cheap, you can go fuck yourself.” 

Pepper throws her hands up. “You are the most frustrating man on the planet.”

“I object to that. You don’t live with Steve.”

“Oh my god,” Pepper says, and she presses her hands to her face. “I don’t even know why I talk to you.”

“I don’t either,” Tony says, and she drops her hands, the look on her face upset and wounded. Tony cares, of course he does, but he’s also still angry about her whole damn attitude, the way she won’t stop doubting him. In the back of his mind is a very real fear as well, because she controls such a huge part of Stark Industries, and if they aren’t on good terms then that means hell for the company. Also, if the board get wind of what he’s done they could take it very well or very badly, and he needs Pepper to vouch for him, to reassure them that Tony will still do what is needed with Arto and Steve in the picture. Hell, they’d kicked up enough of a fuss as it was when he’d re-joined the Avengers- 

“Sir, the dinner order has arrived and is in the lobby.”

“Thanks, Jarvis,” Tony says tiredly, and then glances at Pepper. “You staying for dinner or have I pissed you off enough to leave?”

Pepper sighs. “You underestimate my tolerance levels when it comes to you. I’m staying.”

Deciding to just take the answer for what it is, Tony nods and makes his way out of the workshop. Pepper follows and helps him collect the take-out from the lobby, and they take the elevator up to the communal floor in silence. Tony’s brain is going a thousand revolutions a minute, because Pepper still doesn’t get it and she’s about to come face to face with Arto and Steve and there are just so many ways in which this could all go so horribly wrong.

He needs Steve.

They step out of the elevator to find everyone there, crowded on the sofas together and watching the television. Bucky and Clint immediately perk up at the smell of pizza, simultaneously twisting around and peering up over towards them. Tony shakes his head and slides the stack of pizza boxes onto the counter, taking the second stack from Pepper.

“Pepper!” Natasha calls warmly, and she’s the first up, uncurling gracefully from the couch and walking over to her.

“Hey Pepper!” Clint calls from where he’s still sitting by Bucky’s feet, and Pepper waves at him before turning to greet Natasha with a tired smile, hugging her tight and then drawing back to speak quietly. She’s nodding and still smiling, but there’s a faint tension in her expression that Tony doesn’t feel remotely happy about.

Leaving Pepper with Natasha, Tony heads straight over to Steve, dropping onto the couch next to him and Arto, looking furtively over his shoulder to check that Pepper is still occupied.

“Hey, Smart Art,” Tony says wearily as he turns back, brushing his knuckles against Arto’s cheek. “Hey, can I borrow your ears for a moment?”

Arto nods and Tony slides his palms over Arto’s ears before turning to Steve, speaking in an undertone so only Steve can hear him. “She’s mad at me, she still thinks I’m only doing this for you, she is majorly concerned that I am not cut out for raising a child, I may have told her to go fuck herself.”

Steve blinks at him at the same time Arto squirms out of Tony’s hold, pushing his hands away.

“Still hear you,” he says matter-of-factly. “You said fuck.”

Tony stares at him and then at Steve. “I think I’m proving her point.”

Steve blinks at him and then seems to regroup. “Not to be rude, but if she thinks you are being anything other than amazing, she can go fuck herself,” he says, and then he quickly leans in and kisses Tony on the corner of his mouth. Next to them, Arto is giggling madly, presumably at Steve’s swearing. Steve either hasn’t noticed or isn't bothered at that exact moment in time. “I’m guessing there’s no objection that she can throw at you that you’ve not already considered yourself, right?”

“Right,” Tony replies, reaching out to put his hand on Steve’s shoulder, thumb brushing the fabric.

“There you go, then,” Steve says. “You know that we’re doing this, you know why we’re doing this, and that’s all that matters.” 

“Sometimes, you are exactly what I need to hear,” Tony says, smiling weakly as Arto reaches up and grabs his wrist, pulling his hand down off of Steve’s shoulder so he can hold it. His fingers are wet and sticky with spit and it’s disgusting.

“Good,” Steve says easily. “Now come on. Pizza.”

“Pizza?” Arto asks.

“Pizza,” Steve nods. “You coming to help me eat mine?”

“Yes,” Arto replies immediately, twisting around and winding his arms around Steve’s neck.

“No, I didn’t mean-” Steve begins, exasperated. He meets Tony’s eyes and Tony just shrugs.

“Come on Art, let go-” Hands on Arto’s sides, Steve tries to ease him back but Arto isn’t having any of it.

“No,” he whines. “Pick me up, carry me, I’m too tired.”

“Not too tired to hang around my neck, though,” Steve says flatly.

“No,” Arto says, voice still a belligerent whine. “Steve. Carry me.”

“A battle you want to have?” Tony asks casually.

Steve looks up towards the counter, where everyone is already assembled around the counter, sharing out pizzas and beers. Bruce is opening a bottle of wine for Pepper and she’s smiling politely at him, though Tony can tell she’s still stressed by their not-quite-finished conversation.

Steve’s stomach rumbles. “Not a battle I want to have,” he decides, and he stands up, easily lifting Arto with him and calling over at the others. “Bucky – Bucky, don’t you dare take the entire pepperoni-”

Tony watches him go, smiling faintly. He edges up to the table next to Bucky, speaking quietly to Arto and then reaching out for the plate that Bucky hands to him, piled high with various slices. Arto shakes his head and says something in reply to Steve, and Steve nods towards the plate. There’s a moment of hesitation, and then Arto reaches for something and comes up with a small slice of pizza that Bucky must have cut up for him. Arto nibbles along the edge and then suddenly holds out the slice to Steve; Steve’s expression turns surprised and then he says something and holds the plate up. Arto nods and grabs a regular slice, holding it up for Steve to take a bite. Arto grins happily and drops the slice back down, grabbing his own and stuffing it into his mouth.

God, Tony is ridiculously in love with the pair of them.

He looks over to Pepper and his stomach jolts as he sees her also watching Steve and Arto. She has a glass of wine in hand, curled around into her body with her elbow tight against her side, and she’s biting on her lip pensively.  Tony would literally sell his soul to know what she’s thinking right now.

“Tony, come and eat,” Steve calls, and Tony is jolted out of his reverie. He walks over and laughs shortly as Arto makes a muffled noise around a mouthful of pizza, brandishing a slice in his direction. Steve is now sitting down with Arto on his knee, and is valiantly trying to eat pizza single-handedly, as his second is occupied with keeping Arto still.

“For me? Oh you shouldn’t have,” Tony says and takes the slice from Arto. Arto makes another series of indecipherable noise and Tony pulls a face. “Swallow and then talk,” he advises.

“He says he likes ham,” Clint fills in helpfully, licking grease from his fingers.

Tony stares at him. “Only you would be able to understand pizza-talk.”

“Hidden talents,” Clint replies, and Bucky shakes with laughter around his mouthful of beer.

Tony rolls his eyes at the pair of them and leans into Steve, reaching to take another slice of pizza. Steve puts his own food down to slide his free arm around Tony’s waist, a hand resting casually in the small of his back, and wow, he really must like Tony if he’s favoring him over pizza.

“Nice,” Tony murmurs to him. “Putting on a good show.”

Steve pinches him, hard. Tony makes an indignant noise in the back of his throat and tries to twist away, but Steve’s palm is already back on his hip, pulling him in.

“Not putting on a show at all,” Steve says, frowning as he turns back to talk to Arto. “Yeah, eat that and then drink your juice.”

Tony ponders that for a moment, and then decides that he’s going to believe him. He eases out of Steve’s grip to slide into the chair next to then, taking a proffered beer from Bruce with a grateful nod. It’s almost easy after that; the pizza is demolished in record time and then from somewhere Nat and Bucky procure several huge tubs of ice cream, much to both Steve and Clint’s approval. Arto seems very wary of the ice cream to begin with, but as soon as Steve is wolfing down his third portion of double-chocolate, he seems to get on board and demands a spoon of his own. 

It would be a pretty good night if it wasn't for the lingering sense of unease, the way he feels like he’s being silently judged. Pepper sits across the counter from him and Steve, occupied by Natasha and Bruce, and every so often her eyes lift to them, silently taking everything in.

“Want any more?” Steve asks Arto. Tony honestly despairs at that child; he’s got ice cream all over his hands and face and even in his hair, and that’s to add to the pizza grease and the strange black smudges on his face and hands that seem to have appeared utterly at random.

“No,” Arto says, and he drops his spoon back onto the counter, twisting around and burrowing into Steve’s front, most likely smearing his shirt with ice-cream. “No.”

“How much did he eat?”

“Three of his little slices and two scoops of ice-cream,” Steve says, and a pained expression flitters across his face. “God, that sounds terrible; he’s eaten nothing but junk food-”

“Hey, it’s pizza night. Don’t sweat it. We’ll get fruit down him tomorrow,” Tony says, and smiles weakly at Steve’s relieved nod.

Arto says something, voice muffled against Steve’s chest. Tony just shrugs at Steve’s questioning expression, reaching out and stroking his palm down Arto’s back. Arto turns his face to look at him, blinking tiredly and slipping his fingers into his mouth.

“Bath?” Tony suggests, and Arto nods.

“Steve take me,” he says.

Steve looks at Tony and for a moment Tony thinks he’s going to object and plead off, but then his eyes lift over the table and he just nods. “Alright, you got it,” he says.

“We’re using our bathroom now,” Tony says. “Barton has threatened to set Barnes on me if I wreck his ever again.”

“Threat still enforced,” Clint calls without looking up.

Tony catches Steve’s eye and pulls a face, reaching to brush his hand over Arto’s head before getting up. Arto makes a sleepy whining noise and grabs at Tony’s wrist.

“Both of you take me.”

“Not a chance,” Tony says. “Not having you drown both of us in bubbles, who’ll be left to look after Barton if that happens?”

Arto grins at that, and Tony smiles tiredly back.  “Let go then, Smart Art.”

Arto lets go of his hand and Steve immediately scoops him up. He doesn’t waste any time carrying Arto out of the room, and Tony watches them go, feeling a strange urge to get up and follow. He’s torn; part of him wants to stay here with Pepper, part of him thinks he should go with Steve and Arto to prove to her that this is what he wants. Though she knows him well enough that she’d probably see something like that as a play anyway.

He opts for staying where he is, joining the others on the couches. Clint immediately gets hold of the remote, and is halfway through flicking through recorded programs when Tony points out that Arto will be probably coming back down so he’s not allowed to put on anything with blood, guts, swearing or sex in it. Clint stares at him for a moment and then puts on Spongebob Squarepants. Tony threatens to suit up and drop him out of the window, and Bucky wrestles the remote from Clint and hands it to Natasha.

They’re all half watching reruns of Doctor Who and chattering amongst themselves when Steve reappears, Arto walking at his side. Arto is holding onto Steve’s pant leg with one hand, rubbing at his eyes with the other. He looks as clean as Tony’s ever seen him, dressed in a pair of purple pyjamas which go wonderfully with the lime green socks Steve has managed to get on his feet.

“Someone looks tired,” Tony comments as Steve walks over and flops down onto the couch, leaning back as Arto clambers up onto him, sitting on his lap and curing into his chest.

“Yeah Steve, I think it’s past your bedtime,” Bucky says seriously.

Steve just pulls a face at Bucky, though Tony has to concede that he does look exhausted. Steve meets Tony’s eyes for a moment, but looks away as Arto twists around to look at him, whining.

“Bucky Bear,” he says around his fingers, faintly distressed.

Steve looks around, eyes widening slightly. Tony also turns his head to look and _damn_ , he hasn’t seen the bear in hours-

“I have him,” Natasha says out of nowhere, and Tony, Steve and Arto all turns towards her. She reaches out and pulls the bear out from behind a cushion near her, rising from her spot next to Pepper and carrying the bear over. “Here we are, Solnishka.”

Arto immediately reaches out with one hand. Natasha smiles and hands him the bear.

“Solnishka?” Tony asks in an undertone as Arto turns around with Bucky Bear clutched in his arms, burying his face in Steve’s chest.

“He’s growing on me,” Natasha replies quietly, lifting an eyebrow slightly. “Not just me, I think.”

Tony doesn’t ask who she means; that could mean literally any member of the team, or even Pepper, and he doesn’t quite dare to hope he’s going to get off that easily as far as she’s concerned.

“Art, let me get up so I can get a drink,” Steve says quietly to Arto. Arto whines and shakes his head.

“Hey Steve, I think I need this,” Tony says swiftly, spotting both the brewing restlessness in Arto’s tone and behavior and the frustration that Steve's doing a damn good job of hiding. He leans over and slides his arms around Arto, one under his back and the other under his knees and hauls him into his own lap. “This thing here Steve, I think I need to borrow it for like five and a half minutes-”

Arto shakes his head again but Tony doesn’t relent even though he knows Arto could very well object to being taken from Steve. He leans over forwards and blows a raspberry against Arto’s cheek, and Arto’s whine turns into a yelp of laughter. “No,” he says, though he’s laughing. “No, stay with Steve-”

“Give Steve five and a half minutes,” Tony coaxes, even though faint alarm bells are ringing at Arto’s choice of words. “He will miss you terribly for every second that he’s gone, and look, he’s not going to even leave the room.” And – thank fuck – Arto is nodding and giggling and turning into Tony, fingers grabbing at his shirt. Steve nods gratefully and gets up, heading towards the kitchen and waving his hand half-heartedly as he’s bombarded with requests for coffees and more beer. Tony looks down at Arto, who is blinking at him from behind Bucky Bear.

“How was swimming?”

Arto nods slowly, his fingers tangling in the front of Tony’s shirt. He frowns and then yawns widely, and yep, he needs to go bed pretty soon. It’s not that late really, but if he’s already yawning and starting to get whingey then-

“Hey.”

Tony abruptly stops thinking as Pepper slides into Steve’s vacated seat, glass of wine still in her hand and obviously refilled. Tony owes Natasha, big time. Pepper’s eyes go between him and Arto, and there’s something in her expression that Tony can’t quite work out.

“Introductions in order,” Tony says before Pepper can say anything. “Pepper, this is Arto. Arto, this is my friend Pepper.”

Arto looks curiously at Pepper, though doesn’t say hello. He looks up at Tony and then back to Pepper, before reaching up and touching his own hair.

“Red.”

“Orange,” Tony corrects. “Ginger.” He looks at Pepper, half apologetic. “He has a thing for hair,” he shrugs. “Well, Steve’s hair because it matches his, and we like Natasha’s hair because it’s gorgeous.”

“Gorgeous,” Arto mumbles, and he wriggles around so he’s kneeling on Tony’s lap, arms around his neck and back to Pepper. Tony feels Bucky Bear bump against his shoulder blades.

“Sorry,” he says, resting a hand on Arto’s back. “We’re tired, and anti-social at the best of times.”

Pepper smiles. A hesitant, faint curve to her mouth. “That’s okay,” she says cautiously, and dammit, Tony still can't work out what she’s thinking. “I just wanted to come and say hello.”

Tony blinks at her and his feels his eyes narrow slightly, feeling vulnerable and defensive. “Just saying hello?”

Pepper sighs. “Yes, just saying hello.”

“Then don’t look like that,” Tony says.

Pepper turns to him. “Look like what? I wasn’t looking like anything.”

“You were, you were pulling a face.”

“Pulling a face?” Pepper asks, sounding offended. “I was not pulling a face. Stop assuming the worst. As your CEO, I am telling you to stop assuming the worst.”

That shuts Tony up. His mouth works for a moment, and then he gets where he’s heard that tone of voice before.  “You and Steve should hang out,” he finally says, a little grouchily. “Actually no, that’s a terrible idea.”

“Why, you don’t want two of us ganging up on you when you’re being ridiculous?” Steve’s voice asks from right next to them, sounding amused. He steps over and holds out a mug of coffee towards Tony. “Pepper, I didn’t make you one because you had wine, but there’s enough left if-”

“No, I’m okay thanks,” Pepper says, and Tony thinks that maybe the smile she directs at Steve is actually a real one.

“Oh god yes,” Tony says fervently. “I’ll trade you. Here, small child. Steve is back and I’m selling you for a cup of coffee.”

Arto pulls back, pressing at Tony’s face with his fingers. “Wouldn’t sell me.”

“For coffee I might,” he says seriously, and Arto grins.

“Let me,” Pepper says, and she reaches out to take the coffee from Steve. Immediately, Arto turns around and reaches for Steve, and Steve takes him without argument, swinging him up and walking over towards the free spot on the other couch. Arto snuggles tiredly against his shoulder, fingers playing with the hair on the back of Steve’s head.

“Thanks,” Tony says, watching them go and then taking the drink from her. “So we’ve not actually talked about how you are,” he says. “Let’s do that.”

“I’m fine,” Pepper says. “You know, other than the creative head of R&D trying to give me a stress-induced heart attack. Oh, and there’s this guy who owns like, most of the company and he’s an absolute-”

“Oh, you are sassy today,” Tony says, and she rolls her eyes at him.

“Don’t worry. The company is doing exceptionally well, even with this asshole I have to work with.”

Tony smiles at that, a soft huff of a laugh escaping him. “How’s Happy?”

“He’s okay,” Pepper says with a quiet, private smile. “He’s very okay.”

“Very okay?”

“Yes, very okay,” Pepper says, and then looks at him pointedly. “You don’t tell me about your love-life, I’m not telling you about mine.”

“Mine is a matter of National Security,” Tony replies instantly. “Captain America, Pep.”

Pepper raises an eyebrow, glances over to Steve and Arto. Steve is talking to Bucky, and Arto is half-watching the television, eyes drooping slightly as he does.

“I hope you’re not doing this because of Captain America,” she says lightly, her voice a murmur so Steve doesn’t hear.

“The Captain America part has actually turned out to be the downside,” Tony says. “Well, the bureaucratic, governmental sort of side of it is definitely a downside. Much prefer him off-duty.”

Pepper laughs, looking at him. “Oh, you hating bureaucracy? That’s not exactly new.”

“I have a healthy respect for paperwork these days,” Tony begins, and Pepper looks at him flatly.

“Well, maybe one day you would like to share this new found respect with the rest of us-”

Their conversation is cut short as a sudden and ear splitting scream rends through the air. Tony’s heart about stops, and he’s on his feet before he knows it. Pepper is grabbing his sleeve, fingers clenched tight in the material. Nat’s head whips around so fast that she’s probably given herself whiplash.

“Don’t want to! No, not, staying with you-!”

It happens so quickly that Tony almost misses it. He steps forwards, as do both Bucky and Nat, and Arto is screaming even louder and suddenly Steve is on his feet, hefting Arto with him. Arto’s screams break down into sobs and he’s snatching his fingers way too close to Steve’s face like he wants to hit him but can’t. Steve swiftly corrals Arto’s hands into his grip and even as Arto screams and tries to pull free, Steve is walking away and ducking out of the room.  

Arto’s sobs fade down the corridor, a distant scream drifting back to them.

“Jesus, what was that?” Bucky breaks the silence, looking at Clint for answers.

Clint just shakes his head, looking down at the floor and rubbing at his forehead.

Tony turns to look at Pepper. Her mouth is slightly open and she’s staring at the corridor that Steve just disappeared down, shocked and worried and upset all at once. She blinks and then looks to Tony.

“Go,” she says, and she gestures weakly towards the stairs, a half lift of her hand. “Tony, go.”

Tony doesn’t wait to be told again. He nods, reaching out to touch her elbow as he walks past, striding across the corridor and following Steve, heart hammering madly in his chest. In his mind he’s already conjuring all sorts of terrible scenarios; picturing Arto with another nosebleed, screaming and kicking and crying-

Oh god. He can hear him from here.

The noise gets louder and louder as Tony walks into the penthouse, throat tight and stomach twisting. As he draws closer, he discerns that the sound is more tears than screams, heaving sobs in place of the usual angry shouts.

Steve is sitting on the corner of Arto’s bed with Arto on his knee. Arto is clinging to him so tightly that Tony can see the tension in his knuckles from where he is by the door. If Steve’s shirt isn’t ripped, he’ll be amazed.

“Don’t want to,” Arto chokes out between sobs that sound almost painful. He coughs, descending into a horrid choking as he cries. “Don’t want to, Steve-”

“You have to, you’re tired and you need to go to sleep,” Steve says, and his voice is strained but steady.

“No,” Arto screams, and he twists on Steve’s knee, pushing his face into Steve’s throat and clinging to him even more tightly. 

“Arto-” Steve begins, but he stops. He swallows, looks up as Tony approaches, and he looks utterly lost. “He was almost asleep on me earlier,” he begins, sounding defensive in a way he really doesn’t need to be. “He’s tired, I know he is, but he won’t sleep-”

“I don’t know,” Tony says. “Just sit with him, he’ll tire himself out soon, right?” 

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Steve snaps back, and then he exhales heavily, nostrils flaring and lips clamping tightly together. “Sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Tony says, and Jesus, Arto’s crying is giving him a headache, so he doesn’t know how Arto feels seeing as he’s the cause of the damn noise.

“I don’t want to,” Arto wails, and he sits back, pushing at Steve’s collarbones. Steve simply reaches up and takes Arto’s wrists, moving his hands away. Arto does it again and Steve carries on exactly as he had before, showing a patience that Tony never thought he’d be capable of.

“I hate you,” Arto cries. “Want to stay with you.”

“Well there’s a contradiction in itself,” Tony says unsteadily, and he steps forwards, kneeling down beside Arto and reaching to put his hand on his shoulder-

Without warning, Arto’s elbow comes back and he throws his arm around, lashing back at Tony. Steve moves faster than humanly possible, yanking Arto towards him so he doesn’t elbow Tony in the face. Tony jerks back, throwing out a hand as he overbalances, sprawling out backwards over the carpet. 

“Don’t you dare,” Steve snaps, and it takes a moment for Tony to realize that Steve is talking to Arto and not him. 

“Steve, don’t-” Tony begins as he sits up, but his words are lost as Arto starts to scream even louder. Wrenching backwards, he throws himself from Steve’s grip and Steve tumbles with him, sliding off the bed onto his knees with a thud, grabbing Arto around the middle as he throws himself forwards, feet missing Tony by an inch-

“Tony, go,” Steve says tersely as he pulls Arto up, sitting him between his thighs and wrapping an arm around his middle, trying in vain to grab hold of his hands.

“No,” Arto chokes, drawing the word out. “Fucker, you fucking shit-”

“I’m not going to leave you by yourself-”

“Tony, go,” Steve repeats in a tone that brooks no argument. “I am not having you close enough to get hurt while he’s like this.”

“What about you, you’re gonna get hurt-”

“I can handle it,” Steve bites out, and Tony knows he means that he can handle getting hurt. “He wants you back, he can calm the hell down. Now _go_.”

Tony doesn’t have a choice. Nodding hollowly, he stands up and walks away, pressing his hands to the back of his head. He can feel himself trembling, and he hates how useless he feels, hates knowing that this must have been exactly how Steve felt when he got back and Arto had screamed at him, and Tony had sent him away-

He leaves the room, leaving the door ajar. He can still hear Arto sobbing, can hear Steve talking in a low voice, the choked responses. It honestly feels like his heart is breaking as he walks away, getting almost to the stairs before he can’t go any further. 

Slumping back against the wall, he slides down until he’s sitting on his ass in the corridor. His head tips forwards, too heavy for his shoulders, one hand still pressed to the back of his skull.

He doesn’t know how long he sits there for, listening to Arto cry. God, he hates it, he hates it so much-

“Tony?”

He jerks his head up as the soft call of his name. Pepper is there, standing at the top of the stairs and looking worried.

“He,” Tony begins, voice cracking. He wipes his face with his hand, tries to find the words. “He doesn’t like sleeping in his own bed.”

Pepper stares at him for a long moment and then she steps over and sits next to him. She reaches for him, pulling him around into a hug, setting his forehead on her shoulder. Tony goes without resistance, back shuddering as she gently folds her fingers around the back of his neck.

She doesn’t leave, or say anything. She just sits with him and holds him as he tries not to listen to the sounds from the other room, the constant ebb and flow of the argument. Steve isn’t backing down an inch, and Arto is going around and around in circles, quieting down only to start screaming again when Steve refuses his request to stay in their bed. 

It goes on for hours. It’s a constant and exhausting up and down cycle that Arto doesn’t seem to want to break out of. Tony doesn’t move an inch, unable to even contemplate walking away. This is just one of those things that’s not going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to back down or give up. Arto needs them to stick it out, and that’s what he’ll do.

It’s only when his neck starts to hurt from being bent sideways onto Peppers shoulder that Tony sits up, exhausted. His head thunks against the wall and he rubs at his eyes. Pepper is watching him, worried.

“All that stuff you said,” he says without looking at her. “I get it. I’ve asked myself it all already. And I still want to do this.”

Peppers chin trembles, a fraction of a second before she breathes out steadily. “Okay,” she says, and her voice is more even than Tony’s. “Alright.”

And the relief that Tony feels would be enough to knock him on his ass if he wasn’t already there. His throat has gone tight and he doesn’t want to fuck it up by saying the wrong words, so he just reaches for her hand. It’s as she squeezes his fingers back that he belatedly realized that things have gone quiet, and that it’s _stayed_ quiet.

He looks towards the door and holds his breath as he hears Steve-sized footsteps move across the carpet of the penthouse, barely audible. He appears in the doorway, and if he’s surprised that Pepper is there he doesn’t show it; he blinks at them both and then edges out of the room.

“I think he’s-” Steve begins unsteadily, but then there’s a cry from inside the room and the sound of small footsteps running across the floor. Steve stops, frustration flickering over his face for a moment. Tony’s heart leaps up into his throat and next to him, Pepper draws in a breath. Inhaling deeply, Steve turns, and he steps forwards just as Arto pulls the door open. He's crying again, face red and tear-streaked.

“No,” Steve says and he swiftly scoops Arto up and walks back into the room with him. Tony pushes to his feet and follows, watching as Steve carries Arto back to his bed and tries to lie him down.

“No,” Arto cries, and he’s trying to grab for Steve’s hands as Steve tucks him in. Steve shakes his head and pulls back, unsteady. His eyes are too bright and he looks exhausted, and the look only intensifies as Arto climbs straight back out of the bed, reaching for him and crying.

Steve closes his eyes and his chin trembles, the tiniest fracture in his composure, but then he’s pulling himself together and stepping forwards again. He picks Arto up and puts him back on the bed, and this time he turns straight away, walking towards the door.

“Go,” he says to Tony.

“Steve-” Tony says helplessly, gesturing towards Arto who is already back out of bed, running after Steve.

Halting mid-step, Steve meets his eyes and in that single horrible moment, Tony feels something settle between them. Everything they’ve said about sticking together, about doing this together suddenly seems very real.

Steve looks away, turns to Arto and once again stoops to grab him. This time, he holds Arto close and shushes him, one arm under his legs and the other on the back of his head. “Come on Art, bed,” he says. “Come on.”

Tony turns away as Arto’s crying increases in volume once again, more requests for Steve to stay, for Arto to be allowed to stay with them. God, he remembers that first night when Steve had just given in and taken Arto up with them, and it would be so much easier to just give in and let him sleep in their bed.

But Steve has expended so much energy saying no. To give up now would be a waste, and Tony gets the feeling that if they give in, Arto will assume that the whole crying-screaming routine is going to work the next time as well.

He walks back out to find Pepper still there, and as he sits down next to her he hears more footsteps on the stairwell. Clint appears, looking more upset than Tony thinks he’s ever seen him.

“Can hear him-” Clint begins, cuts himself off. His eyes are too bright and his lips are clamped tightly together, looking like he hardly dares to breathe.

“Doesn’t want to sleep in his own bed,” Tony says dully. “Not a battle we can let him win.”

Clint nods jerkily, and it’s written all over his face just how much he hates this. He’s been so good for Arto ever since he arrived and by now Tony knows that Clint would do anything for that kid, does really see him as the younger brother that he would go to the ends of the earth for.

Silently, Clint sits down opposite him and Pepper, joining their strange vigil. His knees are drawn up to his chest, hand on the back of his head just as Tony had been earlier. It’s stupid really, none of them need to be here listening to this, but Tony is in a way glad that they are. He appreciates the company, and right now he thinks Steve will appreciate the show of support.

Pepper sits quietly, her head leaning against Tony’s shoulder.

“This is my fault,” Tony mutters, rubbing his palm over his chin. “I let him stay with me when Steve was away.”

“No it’s not,” Pepper says, soothing. “You didn’t know.”

“I should have known,” Tony bites out.

“Nah,” Clint says, not bothering to lift his head. His voice is heavy, thick. “You can’t know everything.”

There’s movement in the stairwell, and Tony is somehow both taken aback and completely unsurprised when Bucky appears. Without a word, he drops down to sit next to Clint. Bucky brings his knees up, resting his wrists on them and loosely linking his fingers together, before shoving at Clint with his elbow. Clint lifts his head and tiredly leans sideways to lean against Bucky’s shoulder, closing his eyes and exhaling heavily.

Bucky meets Tony’s eyes, the challenge evident.

Tony has absolutely no intention of going there right now so just shrugs. Bucky relaxes, and after a moment leans sideways so his head is resting against Clint’s.

When Nat and Bruce appear with a tray of coffees half an hour later, Tony feels like laughing, helpless and out of sorts. Rubbing his face, he just sits up and takes a drink, wondering if anyone on the planet could guess what the Avengers are currently up to. Natasha sits on the stairs, leaning up them so her elbows are on the top step. She looks comfortable enough, tucked into a pair of sweats and a hooded top that looks like one of Bucky’s.

“He really does not want to sleep,” she murmurs, folding her hands around her mug.

“He probably does,” Bruce says back softly and he sits on the top stair next to her, though leans back against the wall. “People get over-tired, their body produces a rush of adrenaline to keep them going.”

“Running on empty?” Bucky asks, lifting his head from Clint’s as Pepper passes him a mug.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Bruce says. “He’s now so tired he’s gone past being able to sleep.”

“Wow, just what I wanted. A super-soldier hopped up on adrenaline,” Tony mutters, and then sighs, scraping his hand over his face. “Guys, you don’t have to sit here.”

“We know we don’t,” Natasha says. “But none of us will sleep easily until we know he’s safe.”

“Not just gonna leave Steve to deal with it,” Bucky adds, and when he says that Tony knows there’s no point in even arguing. 

“I can’t believe Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are currently battling an over-tired six-year old,” Pepper says, and Clint snorts, and then Bucky is cackling with laughter, clamping a palm over his mouth. Even Bruce is laughing softly, and Natasha is smiling wanly as she sips her coffee. 

“Yeah, laugh it up,” Tony says tiredly. “We’re officially Earth’s Most Domesticated Heroes now, did you not get the memo?”

“Hey, I have full faith in our ability to both kick ass and sort out baby-Cap,” Bucky drawls. “Get him settled and we can go back to blowing up bad guys.”

“Your eloquence astounds me,” Tony says. “But thanks for the sentiment, Buckaroo.”

“Any time,” Bucky grins and gives him a thumbs up. Next to him Clint snorts tiredly and turns further into Bucky’s shoulder.

“Tony,” Pepper whispers next to him.

“Hmm?” he looks up and registers what she’s drawing his attention to; the distinct lack of noise coming from the bedroom. Without waiting, he sets his mug down and climbs to his feet, walking to the bedroom and stealing in.

 

Steve is sitting on the floor beside the bed, facing away towards the wall with his shoulders leaning back against the edge of the mattress.  Arto is lying on the bed, fast asleep. He’s right on the edge, curled around into Steve’s shoulders, his face pressed against the back of his arm.

“Hey,” Tony whispers, and Steve looks around at him.

“I appear to have found a compromise,” he murmurs as Tony steps over, crouching down in front of him.

“Well he’s in the bed,” Tony says with a shrug, though he's so proud of Steve he could kiss him. “And he’s asleep.”

“That he is,” Steve replies, rubbing his face. “I daren’t get up.”

“Your call,” Tony says. “Though you need to go to sleep. You look about dead."

“I’m okay,” Steve says, and Tony knows it’s a lie.

“Everyone’s outside you know,” Tony tells him, and Steve lifts his eyes to Tony’s face, thin slivers of light from the blinds sliding over his face. God, even exhausted and beat, he’s so fucking glorious to look at that Tony can barely stand it.

“What?”

“Came to sit with me,” Tony says. “We’ve been having a tea party in the corridor.”

Steve’s mouth flickers. “Pepper too?”

“She was the first one there,” Tony says, and Steve reaches out for him. Tony slots his fingers between Steve’s. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything.”

Steve shakes his head. “You were fine,” he says. “Nothing else you could have done. Thanks for sticking around though.”

“Any time,” Tony whispers. He glances up at the bit of Arto he can see over Steve’s shoulder. “He’s well out, Steve. Come to bed.”

Steve sighs. “Go tell the others thank you,” he says quietly. “And tell them to go to bed. I’ve got this.”

He gives Tony a gentle push, pressing against their joined hands, so Tony nods and lets him go. He leans down to press a kiss to the corner of Steve’s mouth, feeling him breathe next to him as Steve’s hand comes up to hold onto his face.

“Go,” Steve says, turning his face into Tony’s and kissing him back.

Tony goes, stepping quietly out into the corridor. The others stop their murmured conversation, all looking to him as he comes closer. “He’s out,” Tony says. “Steve says go to bed and thank you.”

“Thank fuck,” Clint says, sounding exhausted. Bucky is already on his feet, holding out a hand and hauling Clint upright. “Hey, tell him I’ll have Short Round in the morning if he wants to sleep in.”

Tony nods and Clint waves his hand in a half-hearted goodbye as Bucky steers him towards the stairs and his bed. Natasha and Bruce say quiet goodbyes and leave, and Pepper lingers for a moment.

“Get some rest,” she says to Tony, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

“Thank you,” Tony says, and there should be more, there needs to be more, but she’s just smiling tiredly at him. “We’ll talk about it in the morning,” she says gently, and then she’s gone, collecting up the mugs left on the floor and walking away.

When Tony goes back into the penthouse, he sees that Steve has moved around so his arms are pillowed on the side of the bed next to Arto, head resting on top of them. His eyes are closed. Tony goes over and leans over, kissing him on the side of his face. Steve stirs, turning his face up into Tony’s.

“I’ll come in as soon as I’m sure he’s not going to wake up,” Steve mumbles against his mouth. “Get some rest.”

And Tony wants to object, but he’s so tired that he’s not sure he’s going to be able to. Instead, he simply nods. “I’ll do breakfast,” he offers, and Steve smiles faintly.

“Pancakes, please.”

Tony thinks about that for a second. “I’ll order breakfast.”

Steve shakes his head slightly. “Handmade Stark pancakes. That’s my final offer.”

“And I thought I only had one brat to deal with.”

“Where do you think he gets it from,” Steve says sleepily, and Tony laughs softly, the sound wobbly and catching because he can barely believe Steve is actually still there, there with Arto and making jokes about it-

“Go to sleep, Tony.”

He leans down and brushes his mouth across Steve’s temple once again. “Aye, aye Captain,” he whispers, and squeezes Steve’s shoulder before turning away and padding into the bedroom, leaving the door open behind him.


	16. Chapter 16

Steve doesn’t think he’s ever felt this tired in his life. It’s not the fact that he’s been up all night, or even the physical strain of having to keep Arto from hurting Tony the previous evening; it’s the emotional exhaustion of spending twelve hours close to breaking point and feeling like he’s done everything wrong.

He tiredly pushes the bedroom door open, glancing back over his shoulder as he does. Arto is still asleep, hasn't so much as moved for the last hour, so Steve is finally risking it and heading to bed.

Using his foot to push the door firmly - but _quietly_ , fucking hell Arto better not wake up again - closed behind him, he pulls his shirt over his head and drops it to the floor, kicking his sweats off and also leaving them abandoned at the foot of the bed. Tony is asleep, lying on his side with his face turned towards Steve, one hand up by his face and holding onto the pillow.

He clambers into bed, feeling clumsy and uncoordinated as his knees knock against Tony’s. Tony stirs, groaning sleepily in the back of his throat.

“Just me,” Steve mutters, lying down.

“I’d be worried if it were anyone else trying to sneak into bed with me,” Tony mumbles back, and his eyes open blurrily. “He still asleep?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, and he shifts closer, tucking his head under Tony’s chin and burying his face in his collarbones, exhaling warm breaths over his skin. Tony shivers and brings his arm up to wrap around him, legs brushing Steve’s under the blankets.

“You okay?”

Steve nods, and he kisses the soft hollow between Tony’s collarbones, nuzzling down into sleep-warm skin. Tony makes a contented noise and Steve does it again, mouth open and hot. He feels wound too tightly underneath the smothering weight of fatigue, a restlessness that’s deep in his bones. He slides a palm onto Tony’s waist, pulling him close and kissing his neck again, tilting his face up as he trails a path up to Tony’s jaw, breathing unsteadily as he goes.

“Steve,” Tony groans. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“Shut up,” Steve mutters thickly, relieved when Tony turns his face down to kiss him properly, mouth lax and clumsy with sleep.

“You shut up,” Tony murmurs back. “You need to sleep.”

“Can’t,” Steve says. “Too-” he begins, but he can’t finish because he doesn't know what it is, why he can’t just close his eyes and relax-

“Too tired to sleep,” Tony mutters. “Like father like son. Steve, seriously.”

Steve shakes his head, pushing against Tony and rolling them over, tangling them both in the sheets and pinning Tony to the mattress with his weight. Tony makes a noise of protest, though his hands drag up across Steve’s shoulders, familiar and comforting.

“Need you,” Steve breathes without thinking, mouth brushing Tony’s, and it’s probably the first time he’s ever said that so directly but he doesn’t care. He cares that Tony is kissing him back, slow and lazy, hands dragging across Steve's shoulders to the sides of his neck.

“I’m right here,” Tony says, voice still rough and heavy with sleep. He lets Steve kiss him again, tilts his head back as Steve moves down to his neck again, biting at the underside of his jaw. His hand reaches down, drags across warm skin and pulls Tony’s thigh up around his waist. Tony draws in a sharp breath and god, it’s just like it’s always been between them, easy and good. Steve shudders through a breath, rolls his hips against Tony’s, holding him in place with both his hands and his weight.

“Steve, he’s right next door,” Tony breathes, even as his arms wrap around Steve’s shoulders.

“Room’s soundproof,” Steve replies unsteadily. “Jarvis, lock the door, alert me if he wakes up.”

“Steve,” Tony protests, though his back is arching unconsciously, body responding to Steve’s in the same way it always has. “You really want to have to stop if he does wake up?”

Frustration rolls through Steve and he swears, letting go of Tony’s leg and rolling away, throwing himself onto his back on the bed. He lifts his arm up over his face to cover his eyes, feeling like he’s not far from bursting into tears.

“Hey,” Tony says, sounding wounded. “Hey, Steve.”

A warm hand slides across Steve’s stomach and then Tony is pressing close, draping himself over him with one leg thrown between Steve’s. He rests his palms on Steve’s chest and props his chin up on the back of his hands, and Steve can’t bring himself to properly meet Tony’s eyes.

“Look at me,” Tony says quietly.

“No,” Steve replies, and swallows thickly. Tony sighs and then he’s moving, climbing fully on top of Steve and lying between his legs, turning his head and resting his cheek against Steve’s chest. His hand comes up and fingers trace lightly along Steve’s shoulder.

“Ruined the moment, didn't I?”

And Steve feels a thousand times worse at the quiet apology in Tony’s voice. “No,” he says, though his voice is unsteady. “You’re right. We can’t.”

“Steve-”

“I just,” Steve begins. “I get it, alright. He’s probably going to wake up in half an hour and come looking for me.”

Tony flattens his palm against Steve’s skin, nodding absently. His beard scratches against Steve’s skin and Steve aches to pull him closer again. “I’m sorry,” Tony says. “Not exactly relaxing, having that in the back of my mind.”

“You don’t trust Jarvis?” 

“Course I do,” Tony says. “But if he gets up - we’ve got to be there. Like, right away. A ten second wait outside that locked door could set him off. Especially when the last thing he remembers is you being there with him.”

And at that, Steve does feel tears pricking his eyes. He’s so goddamn tired. “I literally cannot do anything right tonight." 

“You shut up,” Tony says, and his voice is low and fierce. He reaches out and grabs at Steve’s wrist, tries to pull his arm from his face. “Steve, look at me.”

Steve resists, and Tony makes an angry noise in the back of his throat. He lets go of Steve’s wrist but then his mouth is on Steve’s, kissing him hard. He pulls back so his mouth is just in front of Steve’s, breathing heavily for a long moment before he leans in and kisses him again.

Steve moves his arm from over his face, sliding his palm onto the back of Tony’s head, fingers threading into his hair. His other hand slides onto Tony’s hip, holding on tightly as Tony kisses him and kisses him. He can’t hold it together, and Tony is pulling him open and leaving him exposed and raw in a way he hates, but at the same time he loves it so very fiercely and it makes him feel utterly broken.

He wrenches his mouth away from Tony’s, and he tries to cover his face again because he’s fucking crying again, but Tony is rolling sideways and pulling Steve with him, and Steve has no resistance left and allows himself to be pulled, ending up lying on his side with his face buried in Tony’s chest, head tucked under his chin. Tony holds him tightly through the tears that he just can’t force back, a hand on the back of his head and the other on his neck.

“Fuck,” Steve chokes out, raw and grating. “Fuck.”

“I got you,” Tony says, pressing his face into Steve’s hair and sounding like he’s not too far away from tears as well.

“I just - everything is different and I’ve not got a fucking clue what I’m doing,” Steve manages. “I can’t raise a kid, I can’t do this-”

“You can,” Tony says to him. “You are fucking exhausted and over-emotional. Remember Arto about four hours ago? That’s you right now.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing-”

“You are doing just fine,” Tony says, and he strokes his fingers along the back of Steve’s neck. “You don’t even realize you’re doing it.”

And through the haze of emotion, the words sink in. The barbed twist of panic slowly abates from Steve’s stomach, allowing him to breathe more easily. He nods jerkily, accepting Tony’s words, and kisses his collarbone again, a silent thank you. 

He doesn't speak for a long while, and neither does Tony. They lie there in the darkness of the bedroom, breathing easily and quietly. Steve doesn't let him go; he holds on tightly to the comfort that he gets from having Tony so close. Feeling Tony breathing alongside him, he slowly calms down until he feels back to normal - albeit exhausted.

“If you ever leave me, I’m going to have you charged with treason.”

Tony laughs. “Treason?”

“You will officially be considered an enemy of the United States,” Steve says, and then he stops. An unwelcome thought drifts into existence, uncertain and half formed. “Though if I’m not Captain America anymore, I guess you’ll get away with it.”

Tony is silent for a long while, hand stroking along Steve’s nape. “You don’t mean that.”

“I can't do both,” Steve says, and every word hurts him to say. “Not with him like-”

“Shush,” Tony says over him. “You are Captain America, Steve. I’m never going to ask you to give that up.”

“But-”

“Steve,” Tony interrupts, sounding pained. “Don’t. Sleep. You’re not in the right place to even think it.”

And Steve finds he doesn’t have it in him to argue any further. He nods dumbly, leans back away from Tony to scrub a hand over his face. “Jesus,” he says tiredly. “I’m sorry.”

Tony shrugs at him. “You’re okay,” he says. “I don’t mind. Kinda nice to know you’ll open up to me instead of running crying to Barnes.”

Steve opens his mouth, shakes his head. “Really?” he asks in mild disbelief, and Tony’s mouth quirks in a strange smile.

“I’m a selfish guy, what can I say. I want you to myself.”

“I was offered up on a damn silver platter earlier; you can’t want me that badly,” Steve grouches and Tony laughs.

“And it’s also kinda nice to actually manage a conversation with you without you using sex to avoid it,” he says pointedly, and Steve feels an uncomfortable stab of guilt.

“Between Arto not leaving me alone and you wanting to have serious conversations, I’m never going to get to have sex again, am I?” Steve says, aiming for a joke and not quite getting there.

Tony just rolls his eyes. “Drama queen,” he says, and tips Steve’s face up so he can kiss him. “We’ll work something out.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Tony replies, softly kissing the corner of his mouth. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You go to fucking sleep,” Tony says. “Seriously. Stop talking, stop thinking, stop trying to seduce me and go to sleep.”

Steve snorts tiredly. “That was hardly a seduction.”

“I know,” Tony sighs. “You’re very caveman about it some days.”

Steve pushes gently at Tony’s shoulder and Tony rolls away, settling on his side so Steve can lie behind him, sliding an arm around his middle and kissing the back of his shoulder.

“Yeah, much more of this and I will be slinging you over my shoulder and dragging you to bed,” Steve mutters.

“Jesus, anyone would think you’d been without for months.”

“It’s my coping mechanism for stress,” Steve admits. “And it’s been a pretty stressful few weeks.”

“Wow, you actually admitted it.”

“Shut up,” Steve says, and sighs against the back of Tony’s neck. “Thank you,” he murmurs against Tony’s shoulder.

“Any time, Mon Capitan,” Tony murmurs, and turns his face for a kiss. “Now shut the fuck up and go to sleep.”

“Yes Sir,” Steve murmurs, and exhales heavily. He presses close to Tony, relaxing into the pillows, and he sleeps.

* * *

“Steve. Steve. Steve.”

The word echoes distantly in Steve’s mind as he’s dragged from sleep towards wakefulness. He grunts in the back of his throat, and then distantly realizes what it is as small fingers prod at his ear.

“Steve. Wake up. Steve.”

He groans and reaches up to push Arto’s hand away from his ear, burying his face into the pillow. God, it feels like he’s been asleep for all of five minutes-

“Whoa, no you don’t Smart Art. Leave him alone.”

Tony’s voice is rough with sleep, but clear and fully awake. Steve feels the bed shift and dip as Tony moves, and the fingers let go of him. Arto’s weight slumps against his shoulder, but before he can react he feels Tony get up out of the bed, and then Arto yelps and the weight against his back vanishes.

“He’s sleeping, leave him alone.”

“No,” he distantly hears Arto whine. “Stay with Steve.”

“Not a chance,” Tony says, and Steve hears him moving away. “Super-Soldier needs another few hours. We’re going to go get breakfast and play.”

“Lucky Charms!”

“Yes, you are allowed Lucky Charms. This is one of the rare windows of opportunity where you are actually allowed to have Lucky Charms.”

Their voices fade and Steve is left alone. He breathes out heavily and for a moment debates whether he should get up and follow them, considering what had happened the night before. Though Arto had seemed absolutely fine this morning, clambering about and trying to wake Steve with his usual bright enthusiasm.

Steve finds he’s glad. The night before had been awful in ways he can’t even describe. More than once he’d simply wanted to carry Arto to bed with him, just so it could be over. When he thinks back, it wasn’t just the fact that everyone was exhausted that made him want to give in; it was the fact Arto was so distressed. His crying and the way he’d kept reaching out for Steve had hit places in Steve he’s still not sure he can identify.

An unexpected  flicker of guilt thrums through him and he rolls over, pulling the blankets with him. He should get up, and check he’s okay. Besides, he’s not really sure that he’s okay with staying in bed while the other Avengers deal with him.

But he had been the one to deal with Arto last night, and the others are perfectly willing to help - hell, the fact they’d all been there waiting in the corridor the night before is proof enough of that. And besides, Tony and Clint - and possibly some of the others by now - actually like spending time with Arto, more so than Steve does at the moment. Hell, Tony probably feels more like a parent in the space of a minute than Steve has done since Arto arrived.

Steve doesn’t expect the thought to leave him feeling as hollow as it does. It’s almost wistful, like something he feels part of him reaching uncertainly towards, the rest of him unsure if the feeling should be trusted.

He’s still so tired.

The thoughts flitter restlessly around his mind, and for a while he wonders if he’s even going to be able to get back to sleep. It’s only when he jerks awake at the sound of the bedroom door opening that he realizes he’d managed to fall asleep at all.

“Jumpy,” Tony comments, as Steve lets his head fall back against the pillow. The room is fairly light, sunshine bleeding through the translucent windows and bathing the room. He hopes Jarvis doesn’t pipe up to tell him what time it actually is, because he doesn’t think it’s going to be as early as he hopes it is.

“Where’s Arto?” Steve asks, voice thick with sleep.

“Barton and Barnes have got him. Jarvis is keeping an eye out.”

Steve grunts to acknowledge he’s heard, and then he feels Tony slide back into the bed next to him.

“I was promised pancakes,” he mutters.

“When you get your ass out of bed, you get your damn pancakes,” Tony says, shifting about before he lies down next to Steve, pressing close. Steve hums contentedly and slides a palm onto Tony’s waist, the fingers of his other hand coming up to brush Tony’s chin. Tony presses his fingertips to the side of Steve’s neck and Steve smiles as Tony’s mouth gently brushes his. It sends a warm electric thrill rolling lazily up Steve’s spine. Tony is so warm and close, and the need and want from the night before haven't gone far. His next exhale is carefully controlled, a deep breath against Tony’s skin.

“How long have they got him for?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully a couple of hours, providing he doesn’t throw a tantrum about anything,” Tony says against Steve’s mouth. “He knows you’re sleeping, so he might not come and bother you.”

“We could manage a lot in a couple of hours,” Steve says, and Tony smiles and kisses him again, shifting even closer so they’re pressing together.

“Captain, you read my mind.”

Steve groans. “Please don’t call me that in bed.”

“I thought you liked it,” Tony says, all faux-innocence. “Or maybe you like it too much? Don’t want to get all over-excited when I call you Captain in the field-”

Steve shuts him up the easiest way he knows; he swiftly leans in and kisses him. Tony is laughing against his mouth and Steve grabs him and rolls them over so he’s got Tony pinned on his back, just like the night before.

“Wow, that was smooth,” Tony says breathlessly. “I may swoon.”

“Swoon quietly then,” Steve says and kisses him again, and Tony is kissing him back hungrily, hands sliding up Steve’s arms and clenching tightly around his shoulders. Steve reaches down blindly to grab hold of Tony’s thigh, pulling his leg up around his waist. Tony groans into his mouth and the sound hits him like a punch to the gut. It’s so sudden but he feels frantic, all the emotion from the past god knows how long far too close to the surface. His need is all encompassing, but he needs to slow down or he’s going to hurt Tony-

Tony’s hands slide down Steve’s back, pressing hard against muscle, his fingers slipping under the waistband of Steve’s underwear. His hips jolt forwards hard and Tony lets out a cry, muffled against Steve’s mouth.

“Whoa, easy,” Tony pants between kisses, hands coming back up to cup Steve’s face. “I got you.”

And in that moment Steve believes it with all his heart - that Tony has him and won’t ever let him do anything by himself, that he trusts Tony to be there, and he loves this man in his arms so much he’s not sure he can even articulate it-

Breaking away from Tony, Steve takes his hips in hand and rolls them over so Tony’s the one on top, body pressing down into Steve’s.

“You,” Steve tries to say. He’s shaking from head to toe, a fine trembling that he can’t ignore.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not-” Steve begins. “I can barely think straight. I’m going to hurt you.”

And Tony just meets his eyes and nods. “You want to carry on?”

Nodding because that’s not in question, Steve's hands grip tighter onto Tony as if he thinks Tony is going to change his mind and pull away. Tony nods as if to reassure him, bumps Steve’s jaw with his knuckles.

“You want me to take it from here?”

“Fuck yes,” Steve says fervently, and Tony laughs softly, leaning in to kiss him. 

“You got it,” he says, and then leans in close to Steve’s ear to breathe, “Captain.”

And this time Steve is laughing, helplessly throwing up an arm over his eyes as he laughs and laughs. Tony kisses him gently and Steve can feel the smile against his mouth. A hand slides up the underside of Steve’s arm, pushes his arm from his face and presses his wrist into the pillow above his head.

“I got you,” Tony murmurs again, and kisses Steve again, biting gently at his lower lip. “Hands up.”

Steve obliges, lifting his other hand and tucking them both behind his head. As he does, Tony shoves the blankets away and peels his shirt over his head, throwing it aside before leaning back in and catching Steve’s mouth in another kiss.  Easing his knees apart to make room for Tony, Steve feels his breath catch in his chest, ribcage expanding as he breathes in deeply.  Tony kisses him through it, fingers curling around Steve’s waist as if to hold him in place.

“Has Jarvis got the door?”

"Jarvis will tell us the moment his feet hit our stairs,” Tony replies, leaning in and gently rubbing his chin over Steve’s collarbones, leaning in and mouthing his neck. “Stop worrying.”

“Says you,” Steve retorts. “You were the one-”

“Shut up, stop arguing and relax,” Tony insists, words hot against his skin. “We don’t exactly have a lot of time to play with now.”

“Thought you said they had him for a couple of hours?”

“Yeah,” Tony says, lifting his head to meet his eyes. “ _As long as_ he doesn’t throw a tantrum or come looking for you.”

There’s a pause, Tony’s eyebrows lift up meaningfully and Steve grimaces and then nods. “Okay, making it quick then?”

“Alright by me if that’s alright by you,” Tony breathes and then they’re kissing again, frantic and needy.

Hands slide over bare skin, desperate to touch and be touched, and _fuck_ Steve has missed the feel of Tony being so close to him like this. Yeah, he’s glad they’re communicating more effectively but he’s not going to lie - using this as a key part of their communication definitely has as many perks as it does drawbacks. Heart thudding in his chest and breath coming rapid and short, Steve slides a hand onto the back of Tony’s head and one onto his shoulder; Tony fumbles for the hand that’s curled over his arm and grasps Steve’s wrist, pushing it back into the pillows beside his head.

Shuddering, Steve lets Tony pin his hand in place. He’s got no real hope of keeping it there if Steve decides he doesn’t want it, but the fact Tony is taking over is enough for him.

He groans as Tony’s hips roll against his, and he reaches down with his free hand to pull at Tony’s sweats, tugging them down over the curve of his ass. Panting heavily, Tony pulls away to assist, hurriedly removing his sweatpants and then turning his attention to Steve’s underwear, pulling them down and off and then slapping Steve’s hip.

“Roll over,” he says breathlessly, reaching for the dresser.

“So you weren’t kidding about being quick?” Steve replies as Tony leans away from him, stretching out as he rummages through the drawer.

“No I was not,” Tony says. “Move your ass, Rogers.”

“So romantic,” Steve says dryly, reaching out and running his fingertips down Tony’s spine.

“You want me to be romantic or you want me to do something to take the edge off of your not inconsiderable sex drive?” Tony asks as he finally finds the lube and rolls back towards Steve.

“Option B, please,” Steve says.

Tony snorts, and leans over to kiss him, open mouthed and hot. “Deal. Now roll over.”

Steve obliges, shoving the pillows off of the edge of the bed and rolling onto his front, pillowing his face in his arms. He shifts his hips restlessly and then his breath hitches as Tony throws a leg over his thighs, straddling his legs and pressing warm palms to Steve’s back. He digs fingers into taut muscle and Steve groans, arching his back and trying to move towards Tony’s kneading fingers.

“Or I could just give you a massage?” Tony grins, leaning forwards to bite at Steve’s shoulder. Steve turns his face and Tony obliges, shifting forwards so he can kiss him, hands sliding along his biceps. Steve exhales shakily as he feels Tony’s hips pressing into his ass, his dick hot and hard against Steve’s skin.

Almost everything vanishes; the thoughts and worries, everything but the feel of Tony against him, the way his heart is thudding inside his chest. Underneath the arousal, there’s still a sense of restlessness inside the pit of his stomach, urgency which is compelling him to hurry, to rush.

Tony slides off to his side, lying with his chest pressing against Steve’s shoulder, one leg still thrown over Steve’s. He leans in, kissing along his shoulder, strong fingers gripping Steve’s chin and turning his face towards him. Steve hears the click of the lube and then there’s slick fingers trailing up the inside of his thigh as Tony bites down on his bottom lip.

“Do it,” Steve pants into his mouth, and the words break apart on a cry as Tony’s hand slides up to roughly cup his balls.

“Do what?” Tony breathes, and he drags his fingers up the crease of Steve’s ass, leaving his skin slick and wet. “Fuck you face down while you’re begging for it?”

Steve grunts deep in his chest. “Yeah, that,” he manages to say. “Tony."

A breathless grunt is knocked from his chest as Tony leans over him, working two slick fingers into him without any further preamble. “Easy,” Tony breathes, chest hot against Steve’s arm. “You got this."

“Been a while,” Steve mutters, eyes fluttering closed. Tony’s fingers twist inside him and he groans, instinctively tensing and then remembering to relax. “Fuck, Tony-"

Tony’s fingers still as he leans up close to Steve’s face, breathing hotly over his ear and making him shiver. “You can take it,” he murmurs, voice low and dark, words saturated with promise. “You can take a lot more than this."

As if to prove a point, a third finger pushes inside and Steve gasps, hips lifting off the mattress involuntarily and back arching.

“Four?” Tony breathes, and he leans down to worry Steve’s earlobe between his teeth, sending electric thrills of arousal down Steve’s spine.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Steve groans, legs shifting restlessly as Tony works his fingers in and out. God he’s missed this, missed the way the sensation goes from foreign and uncomfortable to purely _right_ , settling deep in the pit of his stomach as his body aches for me.

This time however, it doesn't settle all the way. He can't fully lose himself in it, not with the fear of interruption still in the back of his mind.

“Hurry up,” he pants, lifting his head from his arms. He twists his body, forcing Tony to pull back and away as he rolls onto his back. He can feel sweat in the dip of his spine and along his hairline, body reacting to Tony in the same way it always does, willing and ready.

“You come quicker when you’re on your front,” Tony says him with a maddeningly knowing lift of his eyebrow. Steve retaliates by hooking a leg around Tony’s lower back and pulling him in, heel pushing against Tony’s tailbone and sending him sprawling forwards, catching himself with a hand in the pillow at the last minute.

“Is that right?” he asks, breathless smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“You were the one suggesting we hurry up,” Tony says, even as he shifts so he’s properly between Steve’s legs, leaning down to bite at his collarbone, dragging his mouth across Steve’s chest.

“I have full faith in your ability to do it right when I’m on my back,” Steve says, and Tony laughs, catching Steve’s mouth in a clumsy kiss, panting against him.

“Gosh, well I can’t let Captain America down, can I?” he says, and Steve is kissing him again to shut him up, rough and breathless, and Tony is reaching blindly for the lube while trying to return Steve’s hot open mouthed kisses. The anticipation feels like it’s almost too much; Steve’s body already misses Tony’s skilled fingers-

Tony grabs one of his knees and pushes it back towards Steve’s chest, trusting fully in - and taking shameless advantage of - Steve’s flexibility as he pushes him roughly into position.

“Fuck, I will never get tired of you,” Tony mutters, and warmth spreads through Steve’s chest and he goes to reply, but Tony is pushing inside him and his words are lost, throat clicking on a gasp. Tony rolls his hips, groaning appreciatively into Steve’s neck, beard scratching rough against his skin.

“Oh, fuck,” he manages, throwing out a hand and clenching his fingers in the sheets. Fuck, he’ll never get tired of how good this feels, how good Tony can make him feel.

He lets his head tip back, hips falling lose as Tony fucks into him harder and harder. He loses track of time, hands restlessly dragging over Tony’s skin, clenching every time Tony hits the right spot inside him. Tony has his forehead pressed to Steve’s, panting roughly into his mouth as he drags them both towards the edge.

God, it’s lucky that he’s so good at this because Steve is getting there fast. For once it’s a welcome sensation, and Steve lets himself fall into it. God, if they get interrupted now he’s going to lose his fucking mind, shit, Tony better hurry up-

“You hurry the fuck up,” Tony retorts, and Steve realizes he’s been gasping out loud. He’s too far gone to be embarrassed about the begging; that, he can save for later.

Tony readjusts, hooks his arms under Steve’s knees and thrusts forwards with enough force to send Steve up the bed a few inches. He throws out a hand to press against the wall above his head, wraps the other around the back of Tony’s neck so he can pull him in for a kiss.

“Enough for you yet?” Tony mutters against his mouth, dark and wicked. “That hard enough for you, Captain?”

“Fuck off,” Steve gasps. “Shit, Tony-”

His climax hits him like a suckerpunch, knocking all the breath out of him. He feels his whole body go tense, back arching up off the mattress, and Tony is swearing and pounding into him so hard he feels like he’s going to break. He can’t even find sounds, let alone words, drags in air as Tony thrusts one last time and shudders above him, dropping his head to bury his face in Steve’s shoulder as he comes.

“Holy fuck,” Tony manages to say, and then he’s laughing, breath warm and damp against Steve’s skin.

“Yeah,” Steve replies, groaning as he lets his legs fall from Tony’s sides. “Oh god.”

They lie together for a moment, collecting themselves. “You done?” Tony asks after a while, gently rocking his hips against Steve’s ass.

“I can be, if you stop doing that,” Steve says, and Tony laughs again and pulls back and away from him, pressing a smacking kiss against his mouth. He sits up on the edge of the bed and Steve reaches out and strokes his fingers down Tony’s spine, not entirely willing to have him move away so quickly.

Usually this would be where they laugh and talk, the mood going playful and warm. They’d drop back into bed, indulging in the feel of being close, or if they had to be somewhere, quickly going through the shower.

“Go clean up,” Tony says, the words breaking into Steve’s vague daydream. “Before we get any visitors.”

Steve nods, disappointed but understanding. He grabs a clean pair of boxers and goes into the bathroom to wash up. The hot water is soothing on his skin, and his body aches in the best possible way. He knows it won’t last long, but for the time being it’s a welcome feeling.

He doesn’t waste any time washing up, for once wanting to get out as quickly as possible. As he steps back into the bedroom, roughly towelling his hair, he sees Tony has changed the sheets for clean ones already, and is tossing pillows back into their place on the bed.

Murmuring thanks, he drops back onto the freshly made bed with a satisfied groan. Tony follows, lying on his back and pulling Steve close, one arm hooked around his neck so Steve ends up with his head resting against Tony’s shoulder, the light from the arc-reactor close and soothing, illuminating his face from beneath.

“Okay?”

“Yeah,” Steve says absently, shifting against the clean sheets. “Just strange. Not being able to completely switch off from the world.”

“Yeah,” Tony echoes, pulling Steve close so he can press a kiss to his brow. “We’ll work it out.”

Considering the circumstances, Steve doesn't exactly know how that’s going to happen, but he doesn’t call Tony on it. It’s too nice a moment to ruin by voicing doubts, and he doesn’t know when they’ll get another chance to be alone together like this.

Tony seems to be thinking along the same lines. He doesn’t say anything, just strokes his fingertips absently up and down the back of Steve’s arm and shoulder for while, until his palm settles on Steve’s shoulder and his breathing goes deep and even.

Lulled by Tony’s relaxed breaths and the thudding of his heart, Steve is also edging towards sleep again when Jarvis quietly breaks the silence.

“Arto is on the stairwell, Captain Rogers.”

“Thanks Jarvis,” Steve mumbles. He waits, and sure enough a minute later he distantly hears small footsteps pelting across the penthouse. There’s a thud and Tony stirs sleepily, and then the door is pulled open.

“Time to get up,” Arto’s voice says loudly, and Steve lifts his head from Tony’s shoulder and rolls onto his back just as Arto scrambles up onto the bed. He’s already dressed, today in a bright blue t-shirt and jeans. The jeans are slightly too long for him, the denim half-covering his bare feet.

Steve finds he’s actually relieved to see him. Memories of repeatedly walking away from him the night before stir uneasily in the back of his mind, and without thinking about it, he holds out his hand towards Arto. Arto promptly clambers towards him, kneeling on Tony’s legs as he crawls up towards them.

“Ouch,” Tony protests, looking blearily at Arto.

“Make me room,” Arto demands, and he pushes between them and pulls the duvet back, promptly scrambling under the covers between them. “It’s warm,” he says happily, throwing himself back against the pillows, pushing his feet against Steve’s thigh. “I stay here with you.”

Steve props himself up on an elbow, sends an exasperated glance Tony’s way. Lying on his back, Tony just shrugs at him. The corner of his mouth quirks in a smile and he reaches out to rest his palm on Arto’s stomach, thumb stroking gently against the fabric of his t-shirt.

“What did you do to Barton?”

“Having breakfast with Bucky,” Arto says, twisting around and looking up at Steve. “Are you tired?”

“I was,” Steve says honestly. “Not so much now.”

“Can I stay with you today?”

Steve looks down at him, and when he doesn’t reply straight away Arto rolls towards him, reaching up and touching Steve’s jaw. “Steve,” he says urgently. “Stay with you.”

Steve looks down at him, and actually he finds it pretty easy to decide.

“Yeah okay,” Steve says, and the delight on Arto’s face makes him feel like it’s possibly worth it. “On one condition.”

Arto wrinkles his nose up, and turns to look at Tony.

“Means you have to do one thing in return,” Tony explains, and glances at Steve, looking uncertain. “You do the one thing, you can stay with Steve.”

“Okay,” Arto says and turns to look at Steve expectantly.

“Get your cold feet off of my leg,” Steve says, and Arto grins and pulls his feet up. Tony barks out a laugh, and the relief on his face is obvious.

“Yeah, no cold feet allowed in the bed,” he says, and leans over to blow a raspberry against Arto’s neck. Arto shrieks with laughter and thrashes wildly; Tony pulls back with a grin, sniggering as Arto pushes at him.

“Steady,” Steve says, reaching for Arto’s hands. Arto grabs hold of his fingers, rolls into him so his back is pressed against Steve’s chest, head resting on his bicep. Steve bends his arm around so Arto can hold onto his fingers.

“Steve?”

“Arto,” Steve replies, gently bending his fingers around Arto’s. Once again he feels impossibly small tucked up against Steve’s body, and in the back of his mind Steve feels worry spike through him, even though Arto isn’t exactly as breakable as usual six year olds.

Arto’s mouth twists contemplatively, and then he turns his eyes up to Steve’s, bright and blue and so familiar.

“Can we go outside?”

Steve feels himself go very, very still, going from relaxed to on-edge in the blink of an eye. Already thinking about every conceivable way in which that idea could go horribly wrong, he looks away from Arto to Tony, who is looking at him seriously. He raises an eyebrow, just enough to let Steve knows he’s waiting for him to make the call.

“No,” Steve says, and Arto’s face falls.

“Not today,” Steve amends, but Arto’s put-out frown doesn't abate.

“Why?”

Steve is at a loss. He can’t say _‘because you’re too dangerous,’_ to a six year old, can’t say _‘because no-one can know about you yet.’_ He certainly can’t be honest and admit that he won’t take Arto out because he’s not comfortable enough to do it.

“Because I have work to do, Steve has training with Bucky and Clint isn't allowed to take you by himself,” Tony jumps in, frank and unapologetic. Arto’s affronted expression turns on him.

“Not fair,” he protests, and Steve wonders where his sense of fairness has actually came from. “You made me sleep in my bed.”

Tony just snorts with laughter. “Yeah, doesn’t work like that, kiddo,” he says, and reaches out to ruffle Arto’s hair. Arto pushes his hand away, scowling.

“Okay, talking about fair then,” Tony concedes. “You sleep in your own bed tonight and then we’ll take you out somewhere.”

“Okay,” Arto says immediately, and turns to look at Steve who doesn’t have much choice but to nod, not if he doesn’t want to undermine Tony, anyway.

“You sleep without a fuss,” Tony adds.

Arto nods vigorously. “Okay.”

“Bribery and extortion,” Tony says to Steve, who rolls his eyes.

“Extortion,” Arto repeats seriously and Tony chokes on a laugh.

“That’s a lesson for another day, I think.”

“Had Lucky Charms,” Arto says suddenly to Steve, smoothing his hands across the blanket and then reaching for Steve’s hand. Steve lets him have it, carefully folding his fingers around Arto’s and deciding not to think about the possibility of having to take Arto outside tomorrow.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, and a - a- ” he begins and falters. “Green thing?”

“An apple,” Tony fills in with a small, rueful smile. Steve gets it; pity twists in his stomach and he tries not to think about what Arto’s life must have been like beforehand for him to not know the word _apple_.

“Well, we learned the word green,” Tony says and Steve smiles at Arto.

“You already knew the word green,” he says.

Arto scrunches his nose up and grins back, and the pity vanishes. On impulse, Steve stretches his fingers out and reaches forwards with Arto still holding onto his hand, gently prodding the end of his nose. Arto makes a pleased chirping sound and presses Steve’s hand to the top of his head.

Steve glances up and sees Tony is watching them, lying back with his face turned towards them, mouth curved in a smile. Tony’s eyes flick to his and Steve has to look away, refocusing on Arto who is now pressing Steve’s hand against his mouth and blowing against it, breath hot and damp on his palm.

The sound of footsteps treading across the penthouse draw his attention; he and Arto look up at exactly the same moment, Tony a moment later. He waits and then Clint’s voice calls out, sounding mildly panicked. “Steve? Steve, is Arto with you?”

Just Clint. Steve feels himself relax again, and holds his finger up to his lips.  Arto mimics the motion, suppressing his giggles.

“No,” Steve calls back, and Tony smothers a laugh into the pillows.

“What? Jarvis said he headed up here-”

Clint appears in the doorway, skidding to a halt. The worried expression on his face melts into flat annoyance as he spots Arto lying between Steve and Tony.

“You fucking liar,” he says flatly. “Don’t do that.”

“I’m here!” Arto crows, throwing his arms up.

“You deserve it for losing him in the first place,” Tony snorts, throwing an arm up over his face, covering his eyes with his forearm and yawning widely.

“I didn’t lose him, he said he was going to the bathroom,” Clint says, and then points at Arto. “Which makes you a liar as well.”

“Not,” Arto says earnestly. “Went to the bathroom then came here.”

“Ha. Loopholed,” Tony drawls without looking from under his arm.

“You know what-” Clint begins and then he stops, looking from Tony to Steve. “Actually, I’m out,” he says, crossing his hands in front of his face. “Not talking to you two while you’re like this.”

“I might take offense to that,” Tony says, finally dropping his arm, rolling over and reaching for a tablet that’s on the night-stand.

Clint rolls his eyes. “Whatever. I’ll go so you can snuggle in peace.”

“Hey Barton, you want to take this with you?” Tony calls, lifting his eyes from the tablet and nodding at Arto.

“Nope,” Clint says, already backing out of the door. “I am going back to bed.”

He closes the bedroom door behind him, and Arto chirps again and shifts onto his knees, pulling the blanket up around his shoulders. “It’s daytime,” he says to Steve. “Why is Clint sleeping in the daytime?”

“Because he’s tired,” Steve says, instead of saying _‘because Clint is an idiot who stays up all night playing computer games and shooting things with Bucky.’_ “Because someone kept us all up last night.”

Arto shakes his head, humming thoughtfully. “Just you.”

“Oh, just me?” Steve says, raising his eyebrows. Arto appears to get that his answer wasn’t entirely accurate by Steve’s reckoning, and his mouth twists thoughtfully.

“And Tony?”

Steve fights back the exasperated glance he wants to throw Arto’s way; he’s not sure Arto will understand it. “You kept all of us up,” he explains.

“Clint?”

“Yes, Clint.”

“Bucky?”

“Yes.

“Natasha?”

“Yes, and Pepper and Bruce and quite possibly Jarvis as well,” Tony chips in. “Hey Steve, there’s a few reports coming in from the West Coast, putting two and two together and making supervillain over here.”

“Yeah?” Steve asks, momentarily distracted. “Do we need a response team?”

“Steve,” Arto says loudly, and shuffles forwards on his knees. “Steve.”

“Hang on,” Steve says, and looks to Tony. “Anyone we know?”

“No, nothing major. Just a few things and a hunch. It’s disruption of the power grid and-” Tony begins.

“I want to go outside,” Arto interrupts loudly. “Steve!”

“Hey, I’m talking to Tony,” Steve says sharply, and Arto rears back. His face goes confused for a moment before crumpling, and shit, that’s not a look Steve wants to see on his face.

“Hey, hey,” he says, trying to pacify. “I didn’t mean to snap. I’m sorry.”

Arto still looks hurt. “I want to go outside,” he repeats, sounding very small.

“I know. I heard you. Not today,” Steve says gently.

“But I never go outside,” Arto says.

“We know,” Tony says, and he rolls over and holds out a hand. Arto takes it without question, fingers gripping Tony’s tightly. “But we agreed that you have to sleep in your own bed for that to happen.”

Arto doesn’t reply. His expression has gone sullen, staring down at the pillows without acknowledging Tony has spoken.

“Oh come on, not that face,” Tony says. “Come on Smart Art, you’re breaking my heart over here.”

Arto turns his face away marginally, mouth still turned into a sullen pout. Tony spreads his hands in his best approximation of _‘well I tried,’_ and Steve decides _fuck it._

“No sulking allowed in the bed either,” he says, and he swiftly grabs Arto around the middle and lifts him clean off the mattress, holding him up above his head. Arto shrieks and flails madly, grabbing Steve’s wrist with one hand and reaching out for the wall with the other. He twists madly and then seems to realize that Steve isn’t going to drop him, and he starts to laugh.

“No sulking allowed,” Steve repeats, lying back and looking up at him. “You sulk worse than Bucky.”

“No,” Arto gasps through his laughter, kicking his feet out and still stretching to try and reach the wall in front of him. He’s laughing helplessly as Steve starts to lower him back towards the bed and then pushes him up again, cheeks going pink.

“Jesus you’re loud,” Tony remarks, still scrolling through the news on the tablet.

“Take the sulking or take the noise,” Steve says to Tony before turning his attention back to Arto. “Stop squirming or I’ll drop you.”

“Won’t!” Arto cackles, and then screams as Steve jolts his hands like he’s about to drop him, letting him down a few inches in a sudden movement before easily catching him again.

“Sorry to interrupt, Sir,” Jarvis’s voice smoothly interrupts, though it does nothing to quieten Arto. “You have an incoming call from Agent Coulson.”

“Put him through,” Tony yawns as Arto continues to shriek with laughter. Steve’s mouth quirks in a grin as Tony backhands his shoulder half-heartedly. “Steve, put the small child down.”

“Nope,” Steve says, and Arto kicks his legs out again, squirming as his hands reach down towards Steve. He’s pink cheeked and breathless and grinning back at Steve like he’s the best thing in the world.

“Morning, Stark,” Coulson’s voice says, brisk and wide awake. Steve doesn’t think he’s ever heard Coulson be anything but, even when he’s called at god-awful hours of the morning or after a three day stakeout.

“Stark, Rogers and baby Rogers,” Tony corrects.

Coulson doesn't miss a beat. “Morning Stark, Rogers and baby Rogers.”

“Say hello to Phil,” Tony says to Arto.

“No,” Arto says, and Steve frowns, lowering Arto to the mattress beside him.

“No, pick me up,” Arto whines. “Steve-”

“Hey, taking a call here, you need to be quiet,” Tony says, pointing a finger at Arto.

To Steve’s utter surprise, Arto promptly clacks his mouth shut. He leans forwards and sprawls over Steve’s chest, hands patting at his shoulder as he turns wide blue eyes on Tony. Steve turns his head to raise his eyebrows at Tony, who is looking mildly impressed.

“Nice one, Smart Art,” he says, and Arto beams at him. “Sorry, Phil. What’s up? Passing on passive aggressive messages from Fury again?”

“Not today,” Phil says. “I’ve contacted Amir, he’s available tomorrow if you are.”

“The psychologist?” Steve asks, and he strokes his hand over Arto’s back. Arto hums and closes his eyes, resting his chin against Steve’s sternum.

“Yes, he and Vasquez are both available in the morning. I’ve got some paperwork I’ll bring in as well.”

“Paperwork?”

“Birth certificate, registration documents, social security paperwork.”

“Pretty much all the pieces of paper that a person needs to legally exist, right?”

“That would be it,” Phil agrees.

“Fine by me,” Steve says. “What time shall we expect you?”

“Ten thirty” Phil says. “You want me to send all the credentials to Jarvis to triple check?”

“Of course,” Tony replies, sitting up and stretching, hands on the back of his neck. “I’ll have security give him a temporary pass when you get here.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow Stark, Rogers and baby Rogers,” Coulson says, and the calls cuts out.  Tony goes back to scanning the tablet, seemingly at ease with the news. In contrast, Steve feels a strange nervousness stirring; someone is going to come in and pass judgement on Arto, on how they’re looking after him. And yes, he knows that they need the help and he readily welcomes it, but there’s still a part of him wary of the scrutiny they’ll undoubtedly be put under.  

“Am I baby Rogers?” Arto asks curiously.

Steve exhales slowly through his nose, gently placing his hand on Arto’s back. “I guess you are,” he says.

“You’re Steve Rogers.”

“I am.”

“I’m Arto,” he says. “Not Four.”

“Arto,” Steve agrees.

“Definitely not Four,” Tony says, tossing the tablet aside and climbing out of the bed.

“Not a baby,” Arto says and he scrambles off of Steve and stands on the bed, bending his knees and bobbing up and down on the mattress. “I’m not baby Rogers, I’m not a baby. I’m six.”

“Okay then small-child Rogers,” Tony says and Arto laughs and jumps across the bed towards him. Tony turns around and staggers as Arto jumps clean off the edge of the bed at him, grabbing him around the neck and nearly sending him flying.

“No,” Arto laughs as Tony grimaces and hitches him up.

“Okay, Steve, intervene here. Because Coulson will be turning up with paperwork with his name on and I’m not saying it. That’s on you.”

Steve’s not an idiot; he knows what he’s getting at. He considers Arto for a moment, carefully wondering how it feels to share his name with this small person he hardly knows yet. But then it crosses his mind how it might feel for Arto to have the name, and when it’s that way around it seems easier. There’s a fleeting moment in which he wishes his mother were there, a quick bittersweet rush that eases through him. God, this would be so much easier if she were here, he thinks suddenly. She’d know what to do.

He guesses he’ll just have to try and be the man she’d tell him to be. “Waiting for him to say it,” he says mildly.

“No,” Arto says loudly, and he leans back out of Tony’s arms. Tony lets him go, and he lands on the bed on his back in a sprawl of limbs.

“I’ve got odds on him not wanting to, actually,” Tony says as he pads towards the dresser. “That’s a big leap of faith.”

Steve frowns, sitting up in the bed and leaning back against the headboard. Arto scampers over and pushes at his legs; Steve lifts his knees and Arto sprawls forwards over them, chin resting on Steve’s blanket covered kneecaps.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it took an intervention from Barton for him to openly say you were his Dad,” Tony muses thoughtfully. “And he’s not exactly proving himself to be the most logical of creatures, is he?”

“Ste-eve,” Arto says, and rolls of his knees to the side. “Dad.”

Steve’s response to Tony is startled out of him. Arto seems utterly unfazed and simply starts clambering over Steve’s knees again. He crawls up Steve’s legs, jaw jutted determinedly as he scrambles up. Steve reaches for him and Arto ends up knelt on Steve’s knees, hands gripping Steve’s and body leaning forwards so his face is right in front of Steve’s.

“Christ, the pair of you could start a gymnastics troupe,” Tony says, yawning as he wanders towards the bathroom. “Or an acrobatic act in the circus. Hey, that’s an idea, do that and take Barton with you.”

“Noted,” Steve says as the bathroom door clicks shut, and then turns his focus back to Arto. “You okay?”

“Not a baby,” Arto says earnestly, and Steve nods.

“You’re too much trouble to be a baby,” he says seriously, and Arto grins.

“Not t-trouble,” he says, all missing words and stumbling over sounds. “I’m good. Steve, you’re Steve Rogers.”

His eyes are wide and earnest, and Steve feels a vague suspicion that Arto is actually pushing him to say it. Huh, maybe Tony was right. He considers Arto carefully for a moment. Arto already knows that he’s biologically Steve’s, so maybe the name isn’t actually a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

“Yeah, and you’re Arto Rogers,” Steve says, and the words roll easily off his tongue . “How’s that sound?”

Arto smiles and he leans forwards, bending his elbows, and Steve realizes what’s going to happen a fraction of a second before Arto slips off his knees, landing painfully with knees right in Steve’s abdomen. He yelps in surprise and then starts to laugh, still clutching Steve’s fingers. He kneels up and leans right forwards so his forehead bumps Steve’s, and all Steve can see is blue eyes and pale skin with the faintest of freckles across the bridge of Arto’s nose.

“Green,” he says.

The corner of Steve’s mouth flickers up. “Green,” he agrees, and gently eases Arto back, something warm flaring in his chest, quiet and soft. “Now come on. I am hungry and if I get up, we get pancakes.”

“Pancakes?” Arto asks, wrinkling his nose.

Steve smiles. “You’ll see.”

 

* * *

“No, Arto, sit-”

Tony breaks off, exasperated as Arto slides under his arm and runs away, giggling as he does. He holds the cloth up and glares at him across the room.

“I will get you,” he says flatly. “One way or another.” 

“Syrup, syrup, syrup, syrup-”

“Kid’s got a point,” Clint says as he reaches for the last pancake. He’s almost there when Bucky steals by and snatches it, lifting it nimbly onto his own plate.

“Aw, Buck-”

“What possible point could he be making about syrup?” Pepper asks from her position by the counter, hands curled around a freshly made latte.  There’s no judgement in her tone, just a mild curiosity, and Tony has already told Jarvis to scout Pepper’s shopping records and then buy her the most expensive pair of shoes he can be sure she’ll like.

“Uh, that it’s awesome?” Clint says as if it’s obvious. He reaches out for Bucky’s plate and Bucky takes a pointed step backwards out of reach.

“Arto, seriously,” Tony groans, and gets up. “I just need to wipe your face-”

“Syrup!” Arto shouts, and runs around to the other side of the couch. “I save it for later!”

Clint chokes with laughter, covering his mouth with his palm to stifle the noise as Bucky points a metal finger at him. “You taught him that! You said that to him earlier!”

“Wonderful,” Tony says. “Banner, grab the brat.”

“No thanks,” Bruce says from where he’s sitting on the couch reading what appears to be a medical journal. He doesn’t so much as lift his chin as Arto jumps onto the couch next to him and runs the length before leaping onto the other one.

“Barnes?”

“Eating,” Bucky calls back promptly. “And he’s sticky.”

“Of course he is. That’s why I need to grab him.”

“Get Steve to do it.”

“Steve has been out the room for fifteen minutes, I’m not calling him back just because we can’t catch a six year old.”

“Can't catch me, can’t catch me,” Arto sings happily, and runs back along the couches, jumping over Bruce as he does.

“Think again.”

Natasha is up off of the second couch quicker than Tony can process; she grabs Arto under his arms and lifts him onto her hip, apparently uncaring of getting syrup all over her workout gear. Tony’s heart stops in his chest as Arto gasps and flails for a moment, but then he goes very still in Natasha’s arms. He stuffs the fingers of one hand into his mouth and tentatively rests the other on her shoulder.

“Good choice, Solnishka,” she says.

“I’m not Solnishka, I’m Arto Rogers,” Arto tells her, and Tony sees her mouth slowly curve up. He presses his lips together and bites back on his grin; he’d bet the company that Steve told Arto that this morning after he’d gone to shower. It feels strange in a way that Arto is being given Steve’s name, and Tony wonders if the small edge of sensation amidst the happiness is strong enough to be called jealousy. No, he decides after a moment. It's not jealousy - it's worry. Worry that he'll be pushed out, that Steve will be able to completely shut him off from Arto if he so chooses. Not that Steve would, but hey - this thing between them is still very new and whilst it's not exactly fragile, Tony doesn't expect all the insecurities to just vanish overnight. 

“Whoever you are, you’re sticky,” Natasha says. “And as fun as Clint thinks it is, you need to be clean.”

“I don’t want to,” Arto whines half-heartedly as Natasha carries him over towards Tony. He doesn’t kick out at her though, doesn’t push or hit. He just pouts and lets Natasha deposit him onto the counter with a bad grace.

“Thanks,” Tony says, relieved that Natasha is in one piece, and that Arto is where he needs him. “Hands please.”

Arto shakes his head. “No.”

“Refusal to comply with basic standards of hygiene in the tower means no computer games,” Tony frowns.

“Barton plays computer games when he hasn’t showered for four days,” Bucky chips in, and Tony reigns in the urge to throw something at him.

“Not helping,” he says and dips his head to gather his thoughts. “Okay, you need to be clean to go outside.”

Arto narrows his eyes. “Steve said not today. So no clean today.”

“I,” Tony begins, and then scrapes a hand down his face, torn between despair and laughter. “You love baths. You love water. So why is this translating into a refusal to be clean?”

“Maybe being clean today will be good practice for going outside another day?” Pepper suggests. Natasha settles against the counter beside her, watching the attempts to convince Arto with what looks like a steadily increasing amount of amusement.

Arto hums. “No.”

“Maybe your tablet won’t work if you have sticky fingers?” Bucky suggests, and grins when Arto immediately sticks his hands out so Tony can wipe them clean.

“Nicely saved, Barnes,” Tony says. “Thanks Art. Now face-”

“No!”

Hands now clean, Arto slides off the counter again and runs back to the couches, diving onto one of them and grabbing Bucky Bear. Tony watches him go and then drops the cloth onto the counter.

“I give up.”

“Give up on what?” Steve asks mildly as he walks in. He’s changed into his sparring gear; bare feet, shorts and a tight fitting t-shirt that Tony really wishes he wouldn’t wander around so casually in. He catches Peppers eye and has to look away before he starts laughing at the impressed and mischievous look in her eye.

“Getting the small child to be clean,” Tony says, making a conscious effort to look at Steve’s face instead of his thighs. “He won’t let me wipe his face and he’s got so much syrup on it that he might as well be wearing a damn mask of the stuff.”

“Arto, get here,” Steve says with a frown. Arto’s head appears over the back of the couch.

“No.”

“No?” Steve echoes, looking unimpressed, and Arto’s grin fades a little. “I don’t want to be clean, Steve.”

“Tough,” Steve says, and he holds out his hand for the cloth. Tony hands it over without a word, biting back a smile as Steve walks over to the couch.

“Stop giving Tony the run-around,” Steve says to Arto, beckoning him to stand up on the couch.

“Wasn’t,” Arto whines, though he does comply. He straightens up, holding onto the back of the couch, and then screws up his face as Steve attempts wipes the syrup from his chin. Tony watches for a few seconds before getting up and heading to the coffee machine. He doesn’t know what’s shifted in Steve’s mind but it’s clear that something has; he half expected him to be a hot mess this morning after the night he’d had, but he isn’t. He actually seems more connected with Arto than Tony has ever seen him, not that he’s going to comment on that out loud and certainly not in front of everyone.

“Okay Avengers,” he calls as he pours himself yet another cup of coffee, hoping that no-one will rat him out to Steve for excessive caffeine consumption. “Now you’re all fed, did anyone else see the news from LA this morning?”

“Yes,” Natasha and Bucky both say.

“What? No,” Clint says, looking startled. “What did I miss?”

“The disruption with the power grid?” Bruce asks, leaning along the back of the couch and pushing his glasses back up his nose. “You think that’s something we need to check out?”

“No need,” Natasha says calmly. “Thor’s handling it.”

“What?” Steve asks, momentarily distracted from Arto; there’s somehow syrup in his ear and he’s letting Steve clean it off, albeit unwillingly and with a lot of whining.  

“Thor’s back?” Tony asks, taken aback. “When did that happen?”

“This morning,” Bruce calls over. “I was speaking to Jane and she told me.”

“Why did no-one tell me?” Steve asks, sounding put out.

“You were asleep,” Natasha says pointedly.  

“And this morning seemed too nice to ruin with shop talk,” Clint adds.

Tony sees the way Steve’s shoulders tighten at that, the crease that forms between his brows as he lifts Arto over the back of the couch and sets him on the floor, apparently done with cleaning. Arto bolts, running around the couches and making a beeline for Clint, evidently his ally in the refusing to be clean business.  

Steve turns, leaning back against the couch. “I’m not going to up and run to LA just because you think there might be a mission there.”

“Never said you would,” Natasha says with an arch of her brows. “Tony, do tell me how Steve would react if we woke him up just to tell him there’d been a power disruption in LA?”

“With extreme prejudice,” Tony offers, and Steve scowls at him but appears to concede the point. Natasha smirks, and beside her, Pepper hides a smile of her own in her latte. Great. Tony is all for Pepper’s hesitant approval of him and Steve, but he’s not sure he’s entirely okay with her team-up with Natasha, mainly because there is literally no way he can vet or control what Natasha chooses to say to Pepper, or how she spins it. Fuck it; it’s not exactly what he wanted, but right now he’ll take it.

“So Thor’s handling it?” Bucky prompts.

“Thor is handling it,” Natasha confirms. “I think it’s his mess anyway, something to do with someone from the nine realms. Steve, he said he’ll call you for backup if he needs it.”

“Thor and his nine realms, Reed and his multiverse,” Clint says, leaning back in his chair as Arto stands on his feet, holding onto Clint’s hands and leaning back dangerously far. “I can barely keep up.”

“He’ll be back tomorrow, all being well,” Bruce calls. “He’s bringing Jane to keep me company seeing as I’m still on lockdown.”

“Yeah about that,” Bucky says. “I’m meeting with SHIELD this afternoon, see where we’re at.”

“Appreciated. Thank you.”

“Okay,” Steve says, nodding. “So no action on LA yet, Thor’s coming back tomorrow, Jane is coming to work with Bruce, and Clint, if you drop him I will have to hurt you.”

Clint grins. “I got this.”

“Can you got this for the rest of the morning?” Tony asks. “I’m going to talk business with Pepper, and Steve and Bucky have training to do.”

“Yes,” Clint says. “Someone still needs to beat Natasha at Mario-Kart, we’ll do that.”

“I’d like to see someone try,” Natasha says, already walking over towards the television.

“You guys sure?” Steve asks, hovering and hesitating.

“Come on Rogers, I only got a coupla hours and then I got to go to SHIELD business,” Bucky says, getting up and stretching his arms up above his head. “And I’m fed up of sparring with Nat. She fights dirty.”

“Oh and you think Steve doesn’t?” Nat calls, and Tony snorts with laughter.  The rest of the team start to move, dispersing from the kitchen area; Steve heads over to Arto to say something to him before doubling back and walking away with Bucky, elbowing him in the side as Bucky mutters something with a grin. Clint joins Natasha and Arto on the couches, and Bruce meanders over towards the coffee machine, eyes still fixed on the journal he’s reading.

Tony turns to Pepper. “Come on then Pep, you alright to go to the workshop?”

“Sure,” Pepper says, and sets her mug aside. “I just need to fetch my tablet and I’m set.”

“Sounds good. Art, I’ll be in the workshop if you want me.”

“Come back later!” Arto shouts without turning around.

“I will,” he calls back. “You know where Steve is?”

“Gym with Bucky,” Arto shouts back. “I’m allowed.”

“Alright. Barton, Romanov, you good?”

“All set,” Natasha calls back.

Pepper steps up quietly behind him, fingers touching his elbow. “They’ve got him,” she says quietly. “Get your caffeine and lets go do some work.

“Easy work?” Tony asks, still staring over at Arto.

“No, the tedious kind that you hate. Paperwork, rescheduling and apologetic phone calls,” Pepper says, squeezing his arm. “Come on, lets get it done."

“You’re cruel."

“Move or I’ll add checking financing and HR reports to the list,” Pepper says mildly.

“Moving,” Tony says, and finally looks to her. “I can give you one hour.”

“You will give me six if I need them,” Pepper says and pushes him towards the elevator. “Go. Or I’m firing you.”

“You can’t fire me,” Tony says as she slips her arm through his and steers him towards the elevator.

“Don’t underestimate me,” Pepper says. “I have invested too much time in Stark Industries to let the Stark part of it mess everything up.”

“And this is why I love you,” Tony says as they step into the elevator.

“I’ll love you back when you do some work.”

Tony grins, and Pepper fights back a smile, still looking ahead at the elevator doors as she tries not to laugh. “Deal.”

* * *

 

The gym is quiet and peaceful, bright with sunshine that pours in through the wide windows. Lazy specks of dust drift through the air, clearly visible in the light. Steve is almost inclined to lie back on the canvas of the boxing ring and bask in the warmth for a while, but he knows he could do with blowing off some steam.

“In the ring or on the mats?” Bucky asks as he saunters in behind Steve, rubbing a hand over his hair. “Jarvis, cool it down a notch in here, would you?”

The air conditioning turns up, barely noticeable. “The mats,” Steve decides. “Don’t want you sulking about bruises when I knock you on your ass.”

“Now that’s fighting talk,” Bucky grins. He strides over to the mats, throwing his towel and water bottle aside before peeling his shirt off and tossing that atop the pile as well. “If you were looking like you did a week ago I’d be worried about bruises.”

Steve pulls a face. “You can shut up.”

“Jesus, Rogers,” Bucky complains, bending forwards and beginning his stretches. “Take a compliment.”

“How the hell was that a compliment?”

Bucky looks at him from where he’s bent over forwards with his hands wrapped around his ankles, sending Steve a look of utmost exasperation from between his goddamn legs. Steve is half tempted to kick him in the ass and knock him over.

“Because you don’t look like you’re about to kill someone or yourself?” Bucky suggests, and in one smooth move rocks forwards and catches his weight on his arms, going into push up position. “You actually looked pretty happy this morning.”

Steve hums noncommittally, leaning forwards and stretching his legs. “I think I might have been.”

“You think?” Bucky asks. He lazily rolls onto his back, pulling one knee up to his chest.

“You’re not stretching properly if you’re lying on your back,” Steve points out, bending forwards, forehead nearly touching his knees. “Yeah, I think.”

“Why? What happened?”

When Steve straightens up, Bucky is apparently done with stretching; he’s lying on his side, propped up on his elbow with his head on his fist.

“Seriously?”

“What happened?” Bucky repeats. “Don’t look at me like that. Spill.”

“Come on, get up,” Steve says, ignoring Bucky’s impatient prodding. “We’re meant to be sparring.”

“Stevie-baby,” Bucky groans, though he does push himself to his feet, stepping onto the mats. “You’re no fun.”

Steve gives him an unimpressed look and steps onto the mat, rocking back and forth and getting used to the sensation beneath his feet. “Arto thinks I’m fun,” he says offhandedly, and Bucky grins.

“That doesn’t count! He thinks the sun shines out of your ass even when you’re being foul.”

Steve responds very pointedly by lunging forwards and kicking Bucky’s feet out from under him. Bucky staggers but manages to right himself, spinning around and grabbing Steve’s shoulder. Steve lets him do it, wheeling around with him and shifting his weight onto his back foot and yanking Bucky forwards hard. Bucky grunts as goes down heavily onto one knee, but then he’s up again, letting his momentum propel him forwards and past Steve.

He wheels around, facing Steve again. “Not bad, Cap,” he grins crookedly. “I see being up until ass o'clock with the world’s most challenging six year old hasn’t had that much of an effect on you.”

“You kidding? It’s only because you and Clint had him this morning that I got any goddamn sleep.”

Bucky slowly walks around the mat, circling Steve like a panther. The light glints off his arm, and Steve stays perfectly still, not shifting like Bucky is trying to tempt him into doing.  

“I think him and Clint have got some sort of telepathic connection,” Bucky says thoughtfully.  “They spent like half an hour laughing at nothing earlier.”

He lunges at Steve again, so quickly that it almost catches Steve off guard. He strikes with his right hand, a blow that glances off Steve’s shoulder as he blocks with his forearm, and then a punch with his left that Steve has to bend back to avoid. He twists around and grabs Bucky’s arm, he tries to yank him over but Bucky flips with the motion and almost sends Steve staggering forwards onto his face.

“Maybe they were laughing at you,” Steve says, and Bucky barks out a laugh as he comes back again. He grabs Steve’s wrists and brings a knee up to try and get him in the stomach; Steve tips backwards and pulls them both down, kicking out and sending Bucky over his head as he’s yanked forwards by the motion.

“Son of a bitch, where did you learn that?” Bucky asks, sounding impressed. He rolls over and manages to grab Steve before he can get away, grabbing him roughly in a headlock. Steve quickly gets his hands up so Bucky’s arm isn’t pressing against his windpipe, and he strains against Bucky’s grip.

“So, Arto Rogers?” Bucky says as he presses forwards, trying to get Steve to yield.

“Apparently,” Steve grits out, fingers flexing against the metal plates.

“Your call or Tony’s?”

Steve wonders how many people in the world would be able to carry on a conversation with the Winter Soldier while in a headlock. His estimate is an unequivocal _none_.

“Mine,” he says, and clenches his jaw and shoves hard against Bucky’s arm, managing to get enough space to slip free. The metal plates scrape against his forehead but he barely notices.

“Damn, you’re slippery,” Bucky says, shaking his arm out as they both stand up again.

“You need to stop trying to pin me with a headlock,” Steve retorts. “It’s getting old.”

“It’s my signature move,” Bucky says. “It has a hundred percent success rate on Barton.”

“He needs more hand to hand training then,” Steve muses as he steps towards Bucky again, fists raised. Bucky blocks the first two punches and the third clips his chin. “I guess I could do it if I’m spending more time here.”

“Good call,” Bucky says, and the conversation pauses for a moment as they grapple again, trying to knock the other down. It ends with Bucky slipping out of Steve’s grip, dancing backwards with a parting kick to Steve’s knee which knocks a pained grunt from his mouth.

“When’re you out next?”

“This afternoon,” Bucky says. “Nat seems to think we might have to go back to Bucharest.”

Steve’s stomach swoops, a strange sense of despondency curling through him. “Send me a postcard.”

Bucky gives him a flat look. “Don’t be a bitch about it. You made the call to step back.”

“I know, I know,” Steve groans.

“And you’re doing a pretty good job of being Daddy Rogers, you can’t bail on him now.”

“I know,” Steve insists. “I don’t want to bail on him. It just feels strange.”

“For you and me both, pal,” Bucky snorts. “I’ve got to make sure I’m enough to take over from Captain America.”

It’s only because Steve knows Bucky so well that he spots the unease in the flippant statement. He steps back, holds up a hand for a time out. Bucky immediately nods, stepping off the mat and reaching for his water bottle, tossing Steve’s over as well.

Steve nods gratefully and takes a long drink. “So, tell me where you’re at with Hydra.”

Wiping his hand across his brow, Bucky frowns over at him. “You know where we’re at. You were on the last mission.”

Steve doesn’t relent. “Okay then, tell me what you’re thinking.”

Bucky’s mouth twists, thoughtful. He takes a swallow from his water bottle and then caps it again, tossing it aside. “I think we need to be looking a different direction,” he says slowly, almost cautiously. “There’s no paper trail pertaining to the building of the machines, or of the gamma experimentation. But if they’re copying Project Rebirth, they need the serum as well.”

Steve’s impressed. Bucky’s usually a run in firing kind of guy, so the fact he’s thinking things through before going off trigger-happy is a sign of how seriously he’s taking it. “What’re you going to do then?”

“Start looking for other patterns. I know there’s always scientific articles kicking around talking about the serum. See if there’s any notable names doing any digging.”

“Good call,” Steve says. “What else?”

“Well we’re not going to get at it electronically. But we know some of the materials they want for building these things, right? I mean, if _someone_ hadn’t blown up the last one we could have actually disassembled it and got full specs.”

“I hope you’re not implying I blew it up,” Steve says. “Because I distinctly remember being blown up with it.”

“Excuses, excuses.”

“Oh that’s how you’re going to be today?”

“Pretty much. Now come on, I was promised bruises.”

Steve laughs and nods, getting back up and in position. This time the conversation takes a break as they get into sparring, and Steve loses himself in it. It feels great to get a proper workout; Bucky doesn’t exactly pull his punches with Steve and it’s good to know that he doesn’t have to be as careful with Bucky as he has to with the others. Soon Steve’s shirt is drenched in sweat, and Bucky’s bare torso is gleaming in the light, sweat beading on his collarbones and across his shoulders.

Bucky almost gets him pinned a couple of times, once because Steve lets him in order to counter and get Bucky pinned, and once because he’s not quick enough to evade him. Half an hour in and Bucky is getting frustrated, swinging that bit harder and using his left arm more and more to try and press his advantage.

“Hey,” Bucky restarts the conversation as Steve steps back from an unsuccessful attempt to pin him to the mat, sliding his fingers up his forehead and pushing sweat up into his hair. “Are you and Tony going public with this whole thing you’ve got going on?”

He kicks out at Steve, misses by an inch. “Why, you think I should?”

“Don’t know,” Bucky pants, regaining his balance shockingly quickly. “You going public with the kid?”

“I can’t exactly keep him locked away in the tower,” Steve frowns. “He’s already badgering to go outside.”

“Well, would you rather be single dad Captain America, or wholesome gay relationship Captain America?”

“Wholesome?” Steve asks as he blocks a punch, grabbing Bucky’s wrist. Bucky twists free with ease and swings again, forcing Steve to bend sharply backwards; he retaliates with a kick that Bucky somehow manages to dodge. “You’re putting me, Tony and wholesome in the same sentence?”

“Yep,” Bucky grins, stepping back and shifting his stance as Steve straightens up. “Come on, you’re pretty wholesome at the moment-”

“Probably wouldn’t be saying that if you knew what we did this morning.”

Bucky’s mouth drops open and Steve takes advantage of his temporary shock to land a kick right in the middle of his chest. Bucky staggers backwards and Steve uses his full weight to push him the rest of the way, pinning him to the mat by sitting across his chest, thighs trapping his upper arms to his sides. He leans forwards and braces an arm across Bucky’s neck, and Bucky kicks out a couple of times before giving up and slumping back.

“That’s cheating,” Bucky says matter-of-factly. “I don’t want to hear about your sex life, thanks.”

Steve grins, and then clambers off of Bucky, holding out a hand and hauling him to his feet. “I spared you the gory details.”

“Steve!”

They both turn at the same time as they hear a shout from the doorway. Arto slides across the room towards them – literally slides across the smooth flooring in his socks like he’s skiing or something – and makes a beeline for Steve.

“I’m allowed,” he says confidently, and holds his arms up when he reaches Steve.

“He knows he’s six, right?” Bucky says, reaching for his towel and wiping his face off.

“I think we’re better off thinking of him as three or four,” Steve says vaguely, and Arto makes an indignant noise and pushes at his legs.

“Not a baby.”

“Only babies get carried everywhere,” Bucky points out, and Arto scowls at him before turning back to Steve and holding his arms up again, stretching up onto his toes.

“Please?”

Steve capitulates and scoops Arto up, holding him close. Arto hums happily and slides his fingers into Steve’s sweat-soaked hair.

“We done?” Bucky asks, and Steve glances at him apologetically.

“Sorry. I don’t want to – not in front of him,” he says.

“I know what you were doing,” Arto says suddenly. “I know.”

He kicks his feet out and leans back, and Steve gets the hint and puts him down. “Like this,” he says, and before Steve can stop him, he jumps onto the mat. Steve rolls his eyes and holds out his hand to get Arto to come back off the mats, but then Arto turns, puts one foot in front of the other and raises his hands in what is unmistakably a fighting stance.

Steve’s entire world stops.

He stares at Arto, seeing but not fully comprehending the way he’s standing, the look of concentration on his face. He can’t properly think, can’t properly breathe, and his mind is stuck, stuttering over the same thoughts.

_He’s just a child. He’s just a baby, and he knows how to fight. He’s never had his own toys and he knows how to fight. He’s never been loved but they taught him how to fucking fight._

“No,” he hears himself say, and he blindly strides forwards and he picks Arto up, wanting to clutch him close and never let him go. “No. You don’t need to fight. There is no need for you to fight, ever.”

His voice is thick and unsteady and oh god, he has no idea what to do. Arto’s arms wind around his neck, seemingly oblivious to Steve’s turmoil.

“But you said if there are bad guys trying to hurt people.”

“Then I’ll deal with them,” Steve says, and he can hear the strain in his own voice. Standing a few feet away, Bucky stays silent and still, obviously listening.  Steve doesn’t give a damn; he just takes a steadying breath and forces his voice calm. “You let me sort out the bad guys. You are too little.”

“Am not.”

Steve laughs at that, still unsteady. He buries his nose in Arto’s hair, shuts his eyes and inhales deeply.

“Don’t argue with me,” he says, and his heart is thudding strangely against his sternum.  He pulls back and Arto shifts around, pressing his palms to Steve’s forehead. He leans in and presses his forehead to Steve’s, and Steve has to shut his eyes again, swallowing thickly.

God, even the thought of Arto going to fight anyone makes his stomach knot up. He knew that Arto had been created to be a soldier, knew that Arto had started training to be a soldier – but seeing him stand there on the mat like that seems to have snapped something inside him, knocked something completely out of place.

“When I’m bigger?” Arto asks. “I’m good at fighting.”

“No,” Steve says, and even he can recognize the fierce rush of protectiveness he feels. “Not a chance. I’ll say no, Tony will say no, Clint will say no.”

Arto looks at him uncertain. “I beat anyone,” he says.

“Nope,” Steve says. “Too little.”

“You know proper training often helps instills discipline?” Bucky says casually from where he’s standing. “If someone has a talent for fighting, why not teach them how to use it properly, so they-”

“No, Buck,” Steve cuts in.

“Hear me out,” Bucky says. “It could help. I mean, they do karate classes for six year olds so they can learn-”

“Not this one,” Steve says tersely, hitching Arto up. “This six year old is going to learn to play with toys. Come on, Arto. Video games or Lego?”

“Lego,” Arto says immediately. “Can we Lego?”

“Sure,” Steve says, and he walks over towards the door without a second thought. Just as he gets to the doorway, he stops and turns halfway, looking towards Bucky who is collecting up his stuff. “Hey, Buck.”

“Mmm?”

“You know when you find Hydra?” Steve says slowly, and Bucky looks to him, questioning.

“Yeah?”

Steve fights to keep his voice easy and casual, but he meets Bucky’s eyes so he knows just how serious he is.

“You make them pay for the fact he knows how to do that.”

“Gladly,” Bucky says simply. Steve nods jerkily at him and then carries Arto out of the gym, heart still beating strangely inside his chest.


	17. Chapter 17

The penthouse is quiet and still, orange light from the fading sun spilling across the carpets and flooring, casting long, deep shadows. As Tony steps out of the bathroom, he sees Steve standing in the doorway, back to Tony and shoulder against the doorjamb.

“He still out?” he calls, voice low. Steve doesn’t respond, so Tony walks over to look past him, reaching out to brush his hand over Steve’s back, soft cotton under his fingertips.

Arto is fast out asleep, sprawled on his back on the bed, Bucky Bear at his side. His mouth is open and his hair is still slightly damp from bath-time; he’d all but fallen asleep on Tony’s knee as he’d been getting him into his pajamas so they’d hastily bundled him into bed, the memory of him being over-tired the night before still all too fresh in their minds.

“He actually went to sleep,” Steve says quietly, not turning his face away from where he’s watching Arto sleep. “In his own bed. Without screaming.”

“Bribery and extortion,” Tony murmurs. “Told you it would work.”

He eases an arm around Steve’s waist and Steve exhales heavily and shifts to the side, sliding an arm over Tony’s shoulders. Grateful for the reciprocation, Tony leans his weight against him, trusting Steve to keep them upright.

“So,” he quietly says. “Still not over the whole fighting thing?”

Again, Steve doesn’t answer. He’d told Tony about what had happened in the gym, and Tony had honestly been shocked at how out-of sorts Steve had been because of it. Yeah, it sucked that Arto had obviously begun his training whilst under the thumb of Hydra, but that was just how it was. He was bred as a soldier - and whilst Tony isn’t exactly happy about the revelation, he isn’t been as bent out of shape as Steve is.

“He’s just a baby,” Steve says, and Tony sees his throat work as he swallows hard. “He says he’s not - but he _is_. They just wanted him as a _weapon_ -”

He breaks off, clearly still troubled.

“Well,” Tony says, cautious and unsure how to tread. “You’ve got him now.”

Steve’s mouth twists at that, a wry hint of self depreciation. He heaves out a sigh, nostrils flaring and mouth set in a tight line.

“You know we can’t change what happened to him-” Tony begins.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Steve interrupts and then blinks and tilts his face towards Tony, acknowledging him without looking at him, eyes on the floor. “I’m sorry. I just - not now.”

Tony frowns, not entirely happy with Steve reluctance to talk. “I thought we were getting pretty good at communicating,” he murmurs lightly.

“We are,” Steve says on the edge of another sigh. “My head’s a mess, Tony. I wish I could talk to you right now, but I don’t even know where to start.”

His palm slides down Tony’s shoulder as he says it, and he pulls his around to press his mouth to Tony’s face, right next to his ear. Appeased, Tony leans into him, stroking his fingers down Steve’s stomach.

“I’m gonna hit the gym,” Steve says, voice a low rumble next to Tony’s ear. Tony nods and steps back; Steve has barely left Arto’s side all day and he honestly thinks it’ll do him some good to take a break, especially with how mixed up he’s feeling. He doesn’t exactly want Steve to go, but he’s definitely learning to pick his battles.

“Okay,” he says. “I’ll work up here for a bit, make sure he stays settled.”

Steve nods slowly, thoughts still clearly a million miles away. “Where’s Pepper?” he asks and then blinks. “Is she still around?”

Tony nods. “She’s going to stay a few days. She’s doing some face to face meetings in the city tomorrow, so she’ll be out for most of the day.”

Nodding once, Steve kisses him quickly on the mouth and then walks away. Tony watches him go, absently wishing that there was something he could do to ease whatever it is that’s got him all tied up in knots.

“What have you done to him, kiddo?” he murmurs as he watches Arto. Fast asleep, Arto obviously doesn’t answer, but it doesn’t matter. Tony’s beginning to suspect that he knows anyway.

* * *

 

“IT’S TIME TO GO OUTSIDE.”

A combination of excited yelling and the bedroom door crashing loudly back against the wall snaps Tony suddenly and painfully out of sleep. He jerks his head up off the pillow; next to him Steve is sitting up, tense and ready-

They both groan as Arto runs in and clambers onto the bed, walking across them and staggering slightly as the mattress dips beneath his feet. Not even wanting to imagine what time it actually is, Tony rolls over and buries his face in the pillow as Steve flops backwards, throwing an arm up over his eyes.

“Wake up,” Arto demands, the determination in his expression clearly visible in the faint early morning light that bleeds through the partly shaded windows. He walks right up the bed, standing on Steve’s chest. Steve makes a noise of protest, pushing at Arto’s feet and lifting his arm, blinking at him.

“Jesus, Arto - get off!”

“Strong enough,” Arto says dismissively, but does deign to jump off of Steve’s chest, landing on the mattress on his knees and narrowly missing Tony’s hip as he does. Fuck, Tony loves this kid just as he is but at this exact moment he wishes that he wasn’t quite so energetic at such a stupid hour of the morning.

“I sleeped,” Arto says, seeming very pleased with himself. “Tony, I sleeped. Steve, tell Tony that I sleeped.”

Steve sits up, apparently conceding that he’s not going to be able to roll over and go back to sleep. Tony grimaces; Steve had been in the gym until late the night before, then chatting with Bucky until around two AM before coming back upstairs to slide into bed with Tony. It had been a welcome relief to feel Steve’s solid warmth pressing against his back despite the lateness of the hour; he can’t deny that there was a small part of him that wondered if Steve was even going to come up to the penthouse.

“Jarvis, what time is it?” Steve asks, leaning back against the pillows as Arto scrambles over to him. Rubbing his eyes with his fingertips, Tony watches as Steve pulls Arto close, running a hand over his head and watching him carefully. He still doesn't look right, there’s something thoughtful and distant in his expression that Tony can't quite pin down.

“Five forty-eight AM,” Jarvis says, sounding apologetic. He can’t feel all that bad though; the tinted windows slowly fade to reveal the bright hues of the sunrise. The light spilling in bright and fresh over the room, the promise of high temperatures evident even in the early hour.

“Oh my god, Smart Art,” Tony groans. “Can't you wake up Barton instead?”

“Okay,” Arto says, but Steve grabs him before he can slide off the bed, catching him with strong hands around his middle.

“Leave Clint alone,” he says. “It’s too early to be waking people up.”

“I can wake you up?” Arto asks, and chirps happily as Steve lifts him back onto his knee, tugging the sheets up around his waist with his other hand.

“You just did,” Steve says, and Arto grins at him.

“We should make a rule,” Tony yawns, loathe to move out of the comfort and warmth of the bed. “No waking up before eight.”

“What’s eight?” Arto asks. He reaches out and Steve lets him go so that he can slump over and stroke his fingers against Tony’s beard.

“What - what do you mean? Eight in the morning,” Tony says, but Arto’s face just scrunches up in a confused frown.

“I’m six,” he says. “Not eight.”

“No, I’m talking about the time.”

“Time to go outside!” Arto enthuses, and Tony looks up at Steve, comprehension slowly dawning.

“He doesn’t understand time.”

Steve frowns, unsure. “He must know what the word means,” he says slowly. “Considering we’ve been reliably informed several times that it’s time to go outside.”

“But-” Tony says. “Hey Arto, do you know what time it is? Like with numbers?”

Arto frowns right back at him. “Time for breakfast?”

“Jesus, he doesn’t know what time is,” Tony repeats, sitting up. “Jarvis, give me a clock. Project it on the wall.”

Jarvis does, and Arto twists around to look at it, cocking his head curiously. Tony gestures to it, looks back at Arto. “You know what that is?”

“No,” Arto says, and then looks to Steve. “Time?”

Steve’s expression has been slowly growing more and more dismayed, but as Arto looks to him he manages to straighten it out. “Yeah, it’s a clock. It’s used for telling the time.”

“How the hell has he - should he have a sense of time?” Tony says, bewildered and starting to feel an edge of panic rearing its head. He should know this, he should be able to say if this is normal for Arto, should be able to put it right somehow-

“I have no idea,” Steve says quietly and slowly, and Tony is pretty sure that Steve is at that exact moment deciding whether _he’s_ going to hold it together or not. He catches Arto’s sides in his hands as Arto stands up and leans into him, wrapping his arms around Steve’s neck in a hug. Miraculously and unexpectedly, it seems to calm him down. He exhales and looks at Tony over Arto’s shoulder. “We’ll ask Amir when he gets here.”

“Ask a professional, good call,” Tony says, already planning to get Jarvis to search the wide recesses of the internet for answers despite the fact they have a professional coming to see them in less than five hours.

Steve nods at him, looking relieved. He turns his face towards Arto, and Tony notices the way he nudges Arto’s ear with his nose, gentle and seemingly without thought. “Any way I can convince you to go back to bed for an hour?” he murmurs, just loud enough for Tony to hear.

“Nope,” Arto says, and the way he pops the ‘P’ sounds distressingly like Clint.

“Not even if I let you sleep here for an hour?” Steve asks. Tony sends him an exasperated look, because he understands the temptation, but he has a strong suspicion that down that path lies nothing but disaster.

Arto hums, looking at the bed and then back at Steve. “Nope,” he says again, and he leans in and noisily kisses Steve’s cheek, giggling.

Steve’s eyebrows shoot up, clearly startled. “I kiss you,” Arto cackles.

“Okay, who taught you kissing,” Tony asks, and reaches out to grab Arto’s ankle. Arto shrieks as Tony pulls him across the bed, falling to his back in a tangle of limbs. Steve watches him go, expression still slightly taken aback and edged with the same contemplative look he’d been wearing earlier. It’s less fraught than the night before, but still unmistakably there.

“Clint,” Arto says. “Mouth kisses for pink lines,” he says, sounding like he’s reciting something from memory. “Face kisses for green lines and blue lines and sometimes yellow lines if ask really nicely.”

“Well, he’s not wrong,” Tony says and Steve’s careful expression cracks as starts to laugh. It bubbles up from nowhere, and before Tony can say anything Steve is laughing so hard he’s bent over his knees, hands pressed to the back of his head.

“Don’t worry,” Tony says to Arto, though in truth he’s slightly disconcerted by Steve’s sudden amusement. “Steve’s just gone mad. He’ll be fine.”

“I _am_ fine,” Steve says through his laughter as he sits up, and he drags his hand down his face, looking to Arto and shaking his head slightly. He blows out a breath, gets himself back under control.

“Care to share with the class?” Tony asks. Steve looks over at him, and he’s sleep-rumpled and beautiful in the muted morning light, eyes bright and clear and blond hair mussed over his forehead. Their eyes meet, and then he looks away and he shakes his head.

“I’m okay,” he says and he’s looking at Arto like he’s the answer to an equation, perfectly correct but with no idea of how he came to it.

“Hey,” Tony calls over to him, but his words are cut short as Arto promptly leans in and kisses Tony’s face, right next to his nose.

“I kiss you,” he whispers like it’s a secret. “Not all the time. Just sometimes.”

“Okay, thanks for letting me know,” Tony says seriously, but he’s smiling and he can't hold it back. He sifts his fingers through Arto’s hair, glances to Steve. He’s now sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing the back of his neck, so Tony has no hope of catching his eye. Momentarily thwarted, he makes a mental note to speak to Steve later and turns his attention back to Arto. “Now come on, wretched creature. If you refuse to go back to bed we might as well go for breakfast.”

“Breakfast!” Arto declares happily. “Lucky Charms!”

“Now how did I know you were going to say that?” Tony says, and watches as Steve climbs out of the bed, hitching up his boxers and stretching, arms high above his head. It throws the muscles of his back into stark relief and Tony takes a moment to trail his eyes down from the back of Steve’s neck down to the dip at the bottom of his spine, just above the waistband of his underwear.

It hits him right in the stomach, and it’s not just the attraction to Steve that’s always been there. It’s the new, strange knowledge that this is it now, this is where they’re at and where they’ll stay. In a way it’s strange, a swooping sensation in his stomach as he thinks about that they’re not just sleeping together, that they’re really _together_ , that Steve will always be in his bed and at his side.

Some days, he really doesn’t know how he got so lucky.

Steve quickly tugs on a pair of sweatpants, and Arto is jumping off the bed with a loud shout and barrelling past Steve’s legs, still shouting about Lucky Charms. Steve shakes his head and follows him out without word or complaint, and Tony hastens to get up out of the bed as well, grabbing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, diving into the bathroom. For a moment he debates skipping the shower; he wants to be there to catalogue every little thing that Steve is doing because he bets that Steve isn’t even noticing it himself. He decides against it, knowing that opportunities to steal away may be few and far between if anything goes awry with Arto later on.

Freshly shaved and showered, he catches up with Steve and Arto on the communal floor half an hour later, and to his surprise they aren't alone. Thor is there in civilian gear, hair pulled back in a messy bun. He looks bright eyed and wide-awake, a sharp contrast to the figure next to him; Jane Foster is wearing a hooded sweatshirt that quite clearly belongs to someone of Thor or Steve’s build and is clutching a mug of coffee in both hands like she’s scared someone will try and take it from her.

Thor is deep in conversation with Steve, who is over by the refrigerator, leaning back against the counter with an arm wrapped around Arto’s middle. Arto is clinging onto him, looking at Thor and Jane warily.

“So did you fix LA?” Tony calls as he walks over, interrupting the conversation about the disruption that Thor just took care of. “Hey, Foster.”

“I did indeed fix LA,” Thor replies, amused. Jane waves at Tony, hastily swallowing her mouthful of coffee so she can say hello.

“Hi Tony,” she says, wiping her fingers across her lip. “Sorry we’re here so early, it was either come this morning or wait-”

“Don’t sweat it, we’re on Arto time now anyway,” Tony says dismissively, and Arto hides his face in Steve’s shoulder. “Speaking of Arto, did he eat breakfast?”

“Yes,” Steve says, opening the refrigerator and pulling a carton of juice out.

“Remarkably quickly,” Thor says. “The boy has a good appetite.”

“The boy has a good appetite as long as it’s Lucky Charms,” Steve mutters, then tilts his face towards Arto. “Get your cup.”

“No,” Arto whines into Steve’s bare shoulder. “No juice.”

“Are you arguing about it?” Steve asks him mildly, and Arto straightens up and narrows his eyes.

“Yes,” he says belligerently, and folds his arms across his chest. “I argue.”

Steve turns fully to him, exasperated. “The answer to that was supposed to be no.”

“Yes,” Arto says loudly.

Apparently giving up on that argument, Steve just shakes his head and puts the carton back in the fridge. Tony bites back a laugh as Arto’s expression goes confused and affronted, like he’s mildly annoyed that Steve’s given up on the dispute.

Jane starts to laugh, quickly pressing her fingertips against her mouth, trying to hold it back. “Oh god, I’m sorry,” she says through her giggles. “Steve - I just. He looks so much like you, I guess I expected him to be super well behaved-”

“Are you implying that Steve is super-well behaved?” Tony interrupts. “You clearly have never been on a mission with Steve or seen him dealing with SHIELD.”

Thor barks out a laugh. “Trust that Jane knows Steve better than that. Though I do think many people less involved with our lives would be surprised if they actually got to know us,” he says with a rueful smile.

“True,” Tony concedes. “I’m much more handsome in person.”

Steve laughs at that, and when Tony meets his eyes his gaze is warm and full of affection. “You’re terrible,” he says.

“Learned from the best,” Tony grins back at him.

“So you two are like...a thing, now?” Jane asks, brows raised and mouth slightly open, curled in an anticipatory smile. If Tony didn’t appreciate the fact she was as smart as he was, he’d call her out on clearly being a terrible gossip.

“You picked the one word in the universe which can literally have any definition,” Tony points out, because Steve is avoiding the question by turning back to the refrigerator and getting the juice out again, despite Arto’s protests. “What is a ‘thing’, Foster? Call yourself a scientist?”

“You know what I mean,” Jane protests, blushing.

“I don't know, I’ll have to consult the family tree,” Tony says. He points to the refrigerator and Jane turns around to look. Steve visibly hesitates, and then reaches out to pull the picture off, handing it to Thor wordlessly.

“Did you draw this?” he asks Arto, voice low and friendly. Arto simply drops to his knees on the counter and crawls behind Steve and out of sight.

“Antisocial creature,” Tony sighs, and Arto better get used to strangers at some point because it’s not exactly like they live a quiet life away from people. “Yeah, he and Clint did it. Does that answer your question?”

“I suppose it does,” Jane says. “Wait, why is Clint- is that Clint?”

“Big-brother Barton,” Tony supplies. “It actually works pretty well.”

“Really?” Jane says.

“He’s really good with him,” Steve says easily. He pours himself a glass of juice and puts the carton back, looking pointedly at Arto as Arto sidles back up to him, eyes on the glass.

“This is my juice, you said no.”

“I share with you,” Arto offers hopefully and Steve just holds out the glass for him to take without argument.

“Now this I don’t get,” Tony says as Arto sips the juice from Steve’s glass. “Why object violently to juice if he actually wants juice?”

“Because juice tastes better when it's stolen from Steve?” Jane suggests.

“I’ve given up trying to work him out,” Steve says, watching carefully. “I’ll put it on the list of things to ask Amir.”

“Who is Amir?” Thor asks.

Tony catches himself just before the word ‘doctor’ slips from his mouth. “A specialist,” he says, and then trusting that Arto won’t know what the word means, adds, “Psychologist.”

“Who we are meeting with this morning,” Steve says levelly, and turns to Arto, taking the glass from him. “Which means you need to be dressed,” Steve says, folding his arms across his chest. Arto mimics the pose, pressing against Steve’s folded arms and leaning right in until his forehead is pressed against Steve’s. He does his best to copy Steve’s expression as well, but starts to giggle after only a few seconds.

Steve doesn't seem remotely phased. “You need to be dressed,” he repeats. “Because today-”

“Outside!” Arto enthuses. “I sleeped, so I get to go outside.

“After the meeting and lunch,” Steve says. “Remember?”

“Outside, outside,” Arto says happily. “I want to go outside and see all the cars. Do you have a car? Are there people outside?”

“Go and get dressed,” Steve says, and he lifts Arto off of the counter and sets him on the floor.  

“Sir, yes sir,” Arto shouts and he runs off. He gets as far as the stairs and then skids to a halt, turning back to look at Steve. “Come with me.”

“No,” Steve says. “You’ll be fine. I’ll wait right here.”

Arto nods and then he’s gone, racing up the stairs as loudly as he possibly can, smacking his feet and palms against the steps as he scrambles up them.

“Wow,” Jane says as the sound fades. “He is certainly a handful.”

“He is certainly a brat,” Tony agrees cheerfully, and Steve snorts with what could almost be laughter.

“I didn’t expect you to be keeping the boy when we rescued him,” Thor says frankly. “Though I suppose we did not know he was yours.”

“It’s kind of obvious,” Jane says pointedly and Tony laughs.

“Next time we’re in a building that is on fire, I shall make sure I slow down and take the time to observe all of the details,” Thor says with a shrug and Jane swats at his arm.

“I don’t think so,” she says. “So he’s definitely staying? Definitely?”

“Yes,” Steve says. “Which actually means I’ve got something to ask you, Thor.”

The tone of his voice sets off alarm bells in Tony’s mind, because that’s Steve’s _‘I mean business’_ tone of voice. Tony immediately tries to think of what it could be, and goes very still as he remembers Steve’s quiet words from a few nights before.

_‘Though if I’m not Captain America anymore, I guess you’ll get away with it.’_

Oh fuck. He wouldn’t, would he? Not without talking to Tony first?

“Hey, do I know about this?”

Steve ignores him, and Tony feels a flicker of irritation even as Steve begins to speak. “Hydra are on the move,” he says frankly. “They’re planning something big, which we think is to do with trying to replicate project rebirth. But I’m not going to be finding out, because I’ve handed over to Bucky. He’s in charge of the mission now.”

Jane and Thor exchange a glance. Tony bites his tongue, staring at Steve so hard that he’ll be surprised if Steve can’t feel it.

“Because of the boy?” Thor asks.

Steve nods. “I need to stay with him,” he says without inflection. “Which means I’m going to be in the field a lot less, until he’s settled.”

“Wait - you’re just handing over the mission to Bucky, right?” Jane asks, brows knitting together in worry. “That’s it?”

“He’s still Captain America,” Tony says without waiting for Steve to speak. “He’s not exactly going to hand over the shield to the one armed wonder.”

Thor regards Steve carefully. “And this is your choice?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, and he lifts his chin, easy and determined. “Yeah it is. Which means, the Avengers need you here as much as possible.”

Thor breathes out slowly, leans back. Even though he looks less worried than Jane, he doesn’t exactly look happy, contemplative and thoughtful. “I do not wish to lead the Avengers,” he says after a long moment. “That is your job.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Steve says. “We just need another heavy-hitter available while I take Art,” he explains. “He’s too strong to leave with anyone but me, you or Bucky, and you’ve seen what happens when he has a tantrum. He’s dangerous unless there’s someone with him who can stop him.”

He takes a deep breath. “And honestly, I think that person has gotta be me.”

There’s a moment of silence after Steve has spoken. Tony so very badly wants to go over and touch him, to pull Steve into a tight hold and slide his fingers through his hair. Steve’s looking like the earth has shifted seismically underneath his feet overnight - god, it must have been what happened in the gym that’s done it. And in the face of his calmness this morning, Tony’s beginning to think that maybe it wasn't just anger at Hydra that had him so out of sorts.

And knowing Steve, he’s probably not even worked out what it is. That look, like Arto was the answer to a question that he hadn't even asked yet.

Tony might just dare to believe that Steve’s starting to get it.

God, he wants to forcibly drag it out of him so badly that he can taste it. But he won’t. Those feelings are Steve’s to work out for himself, and he’s not going to push and send him retreating in the wrong direction again.

It’s Jane who breaks the silence, turning to Thor with a mischievous smile. “Unless you want babysitting detail, and then Steve can go off fighting bad guys.”

Thor laughs. “I think I’ll take the bad guys,” he says with a smile at Steve. “I do not think I can hope to have as much success as you will have with the boy.”

Steve simply shrugs, and Thor looks from him to Tony. “I will remain on Earth as long as you need me,” he says. “Asgard is in the care of the Warriors, and they will understand.”

“Thank you,” Steve says and turns away to get his own breakfast now Arto is gone. Tony watches him carefully as he chats with Jane and Thor, because even though Steve is definitely getting there with Arto, there’s something still not right there and Tony wants to keep an eye on him until he figures it out.

Maybe it’s the thought of meeting with a psychologist. Maybe it’s being woken up early again.

Though with the conversation that’s just happened, it could be Steve thinking about his position in the Avengers now that he’s got Arto. He’s already handed over a mission to Bucky, ceded responsibility to Thor, admitted to Tony that he might not be able to be both what Arto needs and Captain America.

Steve slides into the seat next to him, plate of bagels in hand. Tony reaches out to rub the back of Steve’s neck, the same way Steve is wont to do when he’s stressed.

“Okay?”

“What? yeah, I’m fine,” Steve says easily. It doesn't sound like a lie to Tony, so in the spirit of not pushing, he sits back and lets it lie for now.

“Ready for the meeting?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Steve says. “Guess it’ll be nice to get some answers.”

“What if we don't?” Tony says, and Steve pauses, chewing thoughtfully.

He swallows, mouth curving contemplatively. “Then I guess we look somewhere else.”

* * *

 

“Sir, Agents Coulson and Vasquez and Doctor Amir have arrived in the building.”

Steve looks to Arto where he’s sat playing snap on the floor with Clint and a deck of Avengers playing cards. It’s turning into quite a vicious game - the back of Clint’s hand is bright pink from Arto smacking down on it a moment too late, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Arto  is so engrossed in the game that he doesn’t seem to have noticed Jarvis’s announcement, which Steve is thankful for.

“Okay,” Steve says, and his calm tone doesn't give away the sudden spike of apprehension. He looks over to Tony, who is milling around in the kitchen area, having been unable to settle since ten o'clock rolled around.

“How do you want to play this?” Tony asks from where he’s standing, hands braced on the counter in front of him. The tension across his shoulders is indicative of the sort of stress that normally sends him to find a drink, and Steve is infinitely thankful that he’s opted not to go down that route today.

“I don’t know,” Steve says slowly, twisting around and throwing an arm across the back of the couch.

“We should probably talk to Amir before he meets wonder-child,” Tony says. “Give him a little context.”

“Yeah, probably,” Steve says. “I guess Vasquez will want to do another check up.”

“You think he needs it?”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “He’s still not sleeping properly or eating much, I’d feel better knowing he’s healthy.”

“You got it,” Tony says. “I’ll go do the meet and greet, bring him up to the meeting room on fifty-eight. You brief Smart Art.”

“You got it,” Steve echoes. Tony steps away as if to leave, then seems to think twice and walks back to Steve, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss him quickly. “We got this, right?”

And that’s Tony all over, the insecurity starting to come to the surface in the face of meeting someone who is smarter than him about something, someone who is going to point out everything he doesn’t know.

“We got this,” Steve tells him, voicing a confidence he doesn't entirely feel. “Don’t flake out on me now, Stark.”

“Please,” Tony scoffs, but presses his mouth to the side of Steve’s again. He tastes of coffee and Steve aches to pull him close, kiss him properly. “You’re the one who’s spent the last twelve hours brooding about this, not me.”

Steve lifts his eyebrows, at the same time acknowledging that he might have indeed looked a little brooding since the thing in the gym. Though that hasn't been in anticipation of the meeting, that's been…

Well, he still can't quite pin it down.

He doesn’t say that to Tony though, just pushes him back with a hand on his shoulder. “Go,” he says. “Check they’re all signed in properly and that security know they’re here.”

This time, Tony does actually go, dragging his hand through Steve’s hair and leaving it ruffled as he goes. Steve looks after him, exasperated, but Tony is at the elevators and gone.

“What’s going on?” Clint asks as he oh-so slowly draws another card and gingerly lays it down. Arto’s hand jerks in midair, and Clint grins. “Cheater! Get that hand back!”

“Tony and I are going to speak to Amir,” Steve says. “Art needs to go for his check up with Vasquez, do you reckon he’ll let you take him?”

“Yeah,” Clint says easily, and puts the cards down. “Come on, Smart-Art, we gots a medic to go and see. She needs to check you’re not shrinking.”

“What?” Arto asks, distracted. “No, we’re playing snap.”

“We can play snap afterwards,” Clint says, clambering to his feet. “I need to go and get weighed, and you need to come and hold my hand. It’s Anna, you remember Anna? She let us play with her stethoscope.”

“Okay,” Arto says after a brief moment of contemplation. “You get checked?”

“Yeah, might as well get you checked as well while we’re there. I’ll go first though.”

“Thanks Clint,” Steve says, relieved that Arto appears to be going without a fuss.

“Not a problem,” Clint says, and he crouches down and indicates his back. “Hop on, Short Round.”

Arto scrambles up and jumps onto Clint’s back, piggy back style. Clint straightens up and Arto reaches out towards Steve, looking alarmed.

“Steve! Steve!”

Steve steps over obligingly, hastily catching Arto’s elbow as he lets go of Clint and leans over to hug him. Skinny arms wind tight around his neck, and then Arto kisses the side of his face, just under his cheekbone. Once again he’s horribly sticky, and Steve is starting to think that Arto being sticky is just going to be a given, and quite possibly a battle that he and Tony have no hope of winning.

“Come with me,” Arto says, a familiar plea.

“Nu-uh,” he says gently, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand and grimacing. “You go with Clint and I’ll meet you afterwards.”

Arto sighs, put out. “Promise?”

“Promise,” Steve says.

“Alright, lets get this show on the road,” Clint says. “Enough kissing.”

Arto grins and leans in and kisses the back of Clint’s head. “Ew!” Clint exclaims. “Get off, you weirdo.”

Arto simply cackles with laughter, pressing noisy kisses to Clint’s hair, arms wrapped loosely around Clint’s neck.

“You taught him that,” Steve says matter-of-factly as Clint grimaces. “Entirely your own fault.”

“How long before he gets bored of it, do you think?” Clint asks as he hitches Arto up.

“I have no idea,” Steve says, and reaches out to brush his fingers under Arto’s chin. “You be good, okay?”

“Yes,” Arto replies, dragging out the 'S', and Clint carries him towards the stairs and out of sight. Steve’s eyes track them as they go, feeling oddly like he wants to be the one carrying Arto to the medbay for his check up. It’s not the usual sense of relief that someone else has got Arto; as he ponders it he thinks that maybe it feels almost like _jealousy_ , but that makes no sense at all.

Making himself move, he heads towards the elevator. “Jarvis, keep an extra close eye on Arto please. He should be okay with Clint, but I’d rather not push it if we’re supposed to be going outside later.”

“Of course, Captain,” Jarvis says, and with no small amount of trepidation Steve gets into the elevator, heading smoothly and silently down to the fifty-eighth floor, the same place that they had they debrief after getting back from Bucharest.

When he arrives, Tony is already there, standing over by the couches and talking to a man who must be Yasin Amir. He’s a tall man even by Steve’s reckoning, with dark skin and wide dark eyes, wearing slacks and a blue button down with the sleeves rolled up and the collar open. His demeanor instantly sets Steve at ease, though the nerves and worry are still lurking in the pit of his stomach.

“Doctor Amir,” Steve says, stepping around the table and over towards them, glad to be at the less formal end of the room. He holds out his hand and for Amir to shake. “Steve Rogers.”

“Good to meet you, Captain Rogers,” Amir says, voice low and calm and with a beautiful cadence to his words. Steve wonders where he’s from, guessing the musical lilt to his voice is part of his heritage. “Please, call me Yasin.”

“Sure,” Steve agrees, and glances to Tony. Tony breathes out heavily, meeting Steve’s eyes as he does, a silent indication that he’s as stressed out by this as Steve is. Amir either doesn't notice or acknowledge it. “I was just talking to Mister Stark about the work I do, and the help I can offer. Agent Coulson has briefed me on the situation, so I know the basics of the situation with Arto.”

“Where is Phil, anyway?” Steve asks as sits down on the couch, indicating for Amir to take the one opposite him. Tony sits down next to Steve and it triggers a startling moment in which he actually feels like a parent, even though Arto isn’t even there. Tony’s knee knocks against his and he glances over, the feeling intensifying strangely.

“He has gone to check something with Natasha and then to find Barton,” Tony tells him. “Which means right now it probably sucks to be Barton.”

Steve frowns. “He better not be going to hound him about paperwork, he’s got Arto.”

Setting down a leather-bound notebook and pen atop the coffee table that sits between the couches, Amir crosses one long leg over the other, looking interested. “Arto is with…?”

“Oh, Clint. Clint Barton,” Steve says, suddenly feeling very put on the spot. Does it matter that Arto is there and not here? “He doesn’t really do well with strangers, so Clint’s taken him for his medical check up.”

“And Clint lives here as well?”

“Yeah,” Tony says, and his leg is bouncing restlessly, an unconscious movement that Steve wants to clamp down on with his palm. “You might know him better as Hawkeye.”

“That I might,” Amir agrees. There’s a moment of silence as Amir looks to them both, calm and unassuming. Steve feels his stress levels soaring; he should be saying something, he should be able to take control of the situation and know what to do.

He’s got no idea where to start.

Luckily, Tony can talk enough for the both of them.

“So, where do we begin?” he asks bluntly, as if he read Steve’s mind. “Do you ask questions? Do you meet him and do the whole, without prior judgment thing? Do you have a checklist of things to tick off?”

“Well, what do you think is best?” Amir asks simply. “Would you rather I meet him first, before you tell me about him?”

Tony looks to Steve, and Steve shakes his head. “No,” he says, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “You’d have to watch for quite some time to see all of the things we’re dealing with here. And if he’s gone for a medical check up without objecting, I’m not going to change the plan.”

“Okay then,” Amir says. “How about you tell me all about Arto, and then I can meet with him and we take it from there?”

“Sounds good to me,” Tony says easily, sitting back into the couch and looking to Steve. “You want me to start?”

“Be my guest,” Steve says, and Tony sits forwards again, elbows on his knees and hands held together in front of him.

“Alright,” he begins, and then laughs shortly. “Jesus, there could be so much wrong with him, I don’t even know-”

“Don't think about what’s wrong with him,” Amir suggests. “Just tell me about him. Start from the beginning.”

Tony nods slowly, staring down at his clasped hands. “Well, we rescued him,” he says. “From a laboratory. And as far as we can work out, that's where he spent all of his life.” His eyes lift up to Amir, voice growing stronger and steadier. “He got here and hated it, to begin with. He woke up in medical and screamed, kicked, fought. Did his damnest to get away from us. And the only person strong enough to stop him was Steve.”

Amir nods, listening intently.

“He’s been pretty...violent since he got here,” Tony admits. “Not all the time. But he’s so strong, that when he goes it’s huge. He wrecked his room when we put him in there to begin with. And during all this he started to latch onto Steve. Like, he’d ask for Steve, make a beeline for Steve if he was there.”

“So you’re a favorite?” Amir asks Steve with a smile.

“I guess,” Steve says, feeling awkward, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck, then realizing what he’s doing and dropping his hands back to his lap. “He likes Tony and Clint as well.”

“Steve is the favorite,” Tony confirms, and he says it so easily that Steve almost feels guilty, because it’s true, and it’s true despite the amount of work Tony has done with Arto.

Amir nods. He sits back, hand resting easily along the arm of the couch. Steve glances at the notebook, wondering if he’s going to write anything down. “What else does he like?”

“Cereal,” Tony says without a pause, and Steve feels a weak smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “Playing games. Drawing, especially if he’s drawing on his tablet. Building with Lego. Hands on stuff. He’s pretty fascinated with the whole Iron Man thing as well. Asks about it a lot.”

He looks to Steve as if for confirmation or input, and Steve thinks for a moment, wondering what will actually be useful to say right now. “He likes playing physically,” he says slowly, thinking back to the time they'd spent in the boxing ring, the incident yesterday. “Not play fighting, but he climbs on people, likes being picked up.”

“Yeah, which is a problem in itself because he doesn't know his own strength,” Tony says with a depreciating huff of laughter. “Side effect of being the progeny of Captain America.”

“So he’s much, much stronger than a regular six year old,” Amir says. “And this is problematic.”

“Well, yeah,” Tony says. “I assume you’ve seen temper tantrums for six-year olds before? Now imagine a temper tantrum from a six-year old super soldier who has spent the first six years of his life in a lab.”

Amir doesn’t seem remotely phased. “You described these tantrums as violent?”

Steve doesn’t want to say yes, because to say Arto is violent seems grossly unfair. However, he can’t play down how serious it is when Arto is being unmanageable.

“Yeah,” Tony says quietly. “Sometimes. When he first got here he punched Clint, broke his nose. He’s bitten, broken furniture, thrown things.” He turns his face to Steve. “He landed a pretty solid hit on you as well at one point.”

Amir nods. “And this violent behavior? Does it still happen?”

“Yeah,” Tony says. “When he doesn’t get his own way. When he has to go to bed. It’s not been as bad though, the last real tantrum he had was when Steve was away, and he flipped out because we told him that he had to sleep in his own bed. He kicked me, tried to scratch Bucky. Bucky’s Steve’s best friend; he’s the only other one strong enough to deal with him when he really gets going, so he was there.”

“So you weren't there?” Amir asks Steve.

“No,” Steve says, knowing that he'll gain nothing by holding things back from Amir. “I was working. Though when I got back...” he breaks off, because this is moving onto another issue, though he supposes it’s all part of Arto’s behavior. “After I got back, he didn't want anything to do with me. Told me to fuck off, actually,” he admits, and it’s painful even saying it out loud. “An hour later he was back to refusing to leave my side. He gets clingy as all hell some days, mostly with me and Tony.”

Thoughtful, Amir nods. He looks away from them to the window for a moment, obviously digesting what he’s just heard.

“Okay,” he says as he turns back to them. “The violent behavior is the first thing you’ve brought up, so that’s obviously your biggest concern. Let me ask, does he ever talk to you about what it is that has made him so angry, or caused one of these tantrums?”

“No,” Steve and Tony both say. Steve gestures with a hand and Tony takes over. “He doesn’t actually talk that much. His vocabulary is all shot to hell, he doesn’t know the words for a lot of things, uses them incorrectly. He’s smart, but it’s hard to tell just how smart when he can’t articulate it.”

“So you would say his language skills are below what you would expect?”

“He didn’t know the word for green when he got here,” Tony said flatly. “Though he did know a hell of a lot of swear words.”

“He’s not actually been here all that long, has he?”

“No, but he’s settling well, or seems to be,” Tony says, and his tone is the offhand, close to dismissive one that Steve hates having directed at him. He doesn't call Tony on it though, because he’s willing to bet that pretending not to care being the only way Tony can get through this conversation.  “He’s happier. Talks more. Happier to go places by himself.”

“Within the tower?”

“Yeah, he’s never been outside,” Tony says. “We’re working on that.”

“Okay, so immediately we have a child with limited life experience,” Amir says. “Which would probably partly explain his limited vocabulary and if he has any poor social skills. That's to be expected.”

“Yeah but what do we do about it?” Tony asks. “He can't exactly go through life not knowing basic vocabulary and stammering.”

“Talk to him,” Amir says simply. “Provide a language rich environment. Books, television, conversation. Get him out to see all the things he hasn’t.”

“Won’t that overwhelm him?” Steve interjects, feeling alarmed. “He’s not exactly the easiest kid to handle-”

“You can handle him fine,” Tony says, frowning. “He needs to get outside.”

“He needs to be safe,” Steve retorts, because he can _barely_ handle Arto and Tony knows it. “What if he kicks off and hurts someone? What if he legs it out in the middle of the street and I’m not quick enough to catch him?”

Okay, my first piece of advice,” Amir says, gently breaking into the argument. “You have to acknowledge Arto’s barriers without setting yourself up for failure.”

“What does that mean?”

“That if you immediately think that Arto will behave badly, then he more likely will,” Amir says. “Plan for the worst, but always expect the best.”

“It’s not that easy-”

“It actually is,” Amir explains. “You say a child is going to behave badly, then in your interaction is the expectation that that will happen. The child picks up on this, and is more likely to do so. You’re implicitly giving permission to the behavior. You tell the child that they are going to deal with something calmly, outlining the behavior you expect, then that is what you are more likely to get.”

And Steve falls silent, the argument knocked out of him, because that actually makes sense. He looks at Tony, who leans back into the cushions, smiling tiredly and wryly at Steve. “Guess we’ve got to up our expectations then,” he says, and Steve nods mutely.

“There is nothing wrong with Arto,” Amir says firmly, and Steve and Tony both look to him. “He has barriers to his ability to function normally and safely, and these barriers mean that he exhibits dangerous behavior. The behavior is not the problem, gentlemen, it’s a form of communication that he has learned because other ways are closed to him.”

“The smashing and breaking of things is communicating?” Steve asks, and he's pretty proud that he's managing to keep any skepticism at bay. Amir is the professional here, so Steve has to trust what he says.

“The dresser,” Tony says as if he’s just realized something. “When he first got here. I said if he wasn’t safe you’d come back, and he smashed the dresser because he thought that would get you back.”

Steve is about to ask why the hell Arto didn’t just say that, but the words die before they even get to his mouth.

“He doesn't know how to ask,” he says slowly. “He hasn't got the words, or the - the understanding that he could have asked.”

“Exactly,” says Amir. “We need to get underneath the behavior, to find out what he is communicating to us through his behavior. We support his communication, we help fix the challenging behaviors.”

“So what is it underneath the behavior? Just the communication? Or is it because of where he’s been? Something that-” Tony breaks off, watching Amir intently.

Amir shifts, uncrossing his legs and leaning forwards. He picks up his pen, twisting it between his fingers. “From what I know of him, and what you have described to me, I would say that the issue is the nature of his attachment to people around him.”

“Yeah, actually, that’s it,” Tony says, already there before Steve. “He only bonds with certain people, and then sometimes it’s like they’re not good enough anyway.”

“Okay, if that sounds like it makes sense to you, we’ll follow this path a little further,” Amir says, and he looks to Steve like he knows that he's a fraction of a second behind Tony, waiting for his nod before he carries on talking. “Do we know who he identifies as his primary caregiver?”

Tony looks at Steve and then leans forwards again, tapping the sleek black surface of the coffee table. “J, wake up. Throw up the family tree.”

Jarvis does, and Tony spins the image around so Amir can look. He leans close, laughing softly. “Did Arto draw this?”

“Clint helped him,” Steve says. “I did the drawings. But yeah, he chose who went on it and where everyone went.”

“This is nice,” Amir says. “What do the different colored lines show?”

Tony laughs shortly. “He’s the person to ask about that,” he says. “Green lines are biological family. Blue lines are non-biological family. Pink lines are relationship lines, and yellow lines are friend lines.”

“This is nice,” Amir repeats. “He’s clearly starting to categorize you all in his own mind, work out who is what to him. And you two are obviously in the position of primary caregivers, and he’s aware of his biological link to you, Steve.”

“Yeah, he’s known a while,” Steve admits.

“Does he acknowledge you as his father?”

“Uh, not really,” Steve says, feeling uncomfortable. “Well, he knows, but - Clint says he mentioned it once. And he said - he said Dad the other day, but that’s when we were talking about his name. That his surname is going to be Rogers as well.”

“Okay,” Amir says. “And have you acknowledged yourself as his father?”

Steve opens his mouth, but can't find the words. _No,_ he thinks distantly, because he hasn’t. It hasn't even crossed his mind, and he doesn’t think it’s going to any time soon.

“Okay, that’s fine,” Amir says, appearing to take Steve’s silence as an answer. “However, if that’s how Arto perceives your relationship, then you have to consider whether it’s fair to leave that relationship unbalanced. Though I do realize he’s only just arrived and that it’s all been very sudden.”

Steve feels Tony’s fingers on the back of his arm, a gentle touch. He braces himself, but Tony doesn’t say anything about how Steve didn’t even want Arto to begin with, how he refused to even think about him and ran away.

Horrid, horrid guilt curls in the pit of his stomach.

“I’ve found it hard,” he hears himself saying out of nowhere, words falling from his mouth without permission. “To accept he’s here.”

Amir doesn’t so much as blink. “Of course you have. You went to work one day and came back with a six year old child that you were not mentally or emotionally prepared for. It may take you a while to settle into that.”

“Told you,” Tony says, and Steve elbows him.

“Shut up,” he mutters.

“Though if that’s something that worries you, there are people you can talk to about it,” Amir suggests, and Steve is nodding politely but most definitely checking that on his mental ‘no’ list. He doesn't need therapy thanks; he can deal with this. He just needs time.

Steve clears his throat. “So back to Arto?”

“Yes,” Amir says. “Considering his background and what you have told me, I would be inclined to say that his issues stem from issues with attachment. May I?” he reaches out towards the coffee table and Tony leans forwards and nods.

“What do you need? Web browser?”

“Something to draw on,” Amir says, and Tony nods and brings up the program with a flick of his fingers. “I’ll give you some reading to look at in depth later, but this will be the Cliff’s notes version, to begin with.

“Okay, so attachment is exactly what is sounds like. It’s a psychological model that attempts to describe the dynamics of long-term interpersonal relationships between humans. It doesn’t have all the answers, but it’s certainly helpful in looking at a situation like Arto’s. Think of it like this. Children are born with the instinct to seek care from adults,” he explains, gesturing to Steve and Tony. “We all do it, it’s how we survive. So children in are highly motivated to form a strategy to get their needs met.

“When a child has an healthy attachment, a secure attachment, the primary caretaker, usually the parents, provide the child with a secure base, from which they get their needs met, and they can explore the world around them, but they always have a safe place to go back to.”

Steve thinks of his mother, and nods.

“This healthy attachment develops through a cycle,” Amir says, drawing a simple diagram with the end of his pen. “A child has a need. They express that. The caregiver meets the need, and trust develops.

“A child might not develop this healthy attachment for several reasons,” Amir explains. “When they show a need, and it’s not met. Abuse, trauma, neglect,” he lists off, and Steve has an abrupt urge to go and check in on Arto.

He next draws a triangle, and adds the words ‘ _avoidant_ ,’ _ambivalent_ ’ and ‘ _disorganized_ ’, at each corner. Next to Steve, Tony cocks his head curiously, eyes flickering over the diagrams. “So we’ve said that children are highly motivated to get their needs met,” he says. “Children in unsuitable environments don’t have the healthy cycle that works for them, so they they find something that does work for them, however unhealthy.”

“They don’t trust that their needs are going to be met,” Tony clarifies.

“Exactly,” Amir says. “These are common types of non-secure attachment,” he explains. “Children who don’t expect that their needs will be met, and interact minimally with their caregivers” he says, tapping the pen on the word ‘ _avoidant_ ’, before pointing to the word ‘ _ambivalent_.’ “This describes children who fear separation from their caregiver, react strongly to being left, but aren’t always comforted by their return. Often they can be angry at the caregivers return, and this anger is communicating that they perceive their need hasn't been met, or they don't trust that it has or will be.”

Steve feels heat rising on his neck, uncomfortable as he listens. _That’s Arto,_ he thinks silently. _That’s how he was when I left, when I came back._

“What about the last one?” Tony asks. “Disorganised.”

Amir nods. “Children who have found no strategy that gets them what they need. They may have have experienced abuse at the hands of their caregiver. This means that for the child, the caregiver is both their safe base, and the very thing that is frightening to them, or neglecting them. They can react in a multitude of ways to separation and their caregivers, because they don’t know what works. Also, if the caregiver is erratic or troubled, the child can’t make sense of what is going on, can't perceive any patterns, so can't develop any strategies to get their needs met. They may show anger, frustration, may appear depressed, staring into space, rocking back and forth in an attempt to self-comfort. Obviously, it varies.”

“And this is – this is what’s up with Art?” Tony asks insistently.

“No, he knows-” Steve begins, and his voice cracks. “He knows how to get what he wants from us. He screams and shouts.”

“When you left he laid on your bed and didn’t move for hours,” Tony counters.

Steve turns to look at him, stomach lurching. “He did _what?”_

“It seems to me that Arto has come from a situation where his caregivers have been neglectful, and has very quickly re-identified you as his caregiver,” Amir says. “And he is also very quickly learning how to get his needs met from you. He doesn’t yet have the vocabulary, social skills or experience to do this in what we would deem a normal, healthy way, so he’s doing it his way.”

“So let me get this straight,” Tony says. “All of Arto’s behavior. The fighting. The screaming and shouting. The telling us to fuck off. All of it is because he needs us here and he’s got no idea of how to make that happen?”

“Think about who gets the brunt of the behavior?” Amir asks.

“Steve,” Tony says. “But that’s because he deals with him the most.”

“That may also be because he’s identified Steve as his new primary caregiver,” Amir says. “He’s testing. Testing to see what will work and what won’t. He’s old enough now to be self-sabotaging as well-”

“He’s _six_ ,” Steve breaks in, astounded.

“And has been dealing with insecure attachment long enough for him to realize that he’s not getting what he needs. Being let down hurts. He will have learned that, and could well be trying to prevent the hurt by creating distance.”

“That’s – that’s the shit adults pull after being in a bad relationship.”

“That’s what _people_ pull when they’ve been in a bad relationship,” Amir says with a small smile.

Steve can barely process what he’s hearing. He knew that Arto hasn’t had a good start in life, but to hear it like this, to see the impact it’s having on his ability to be happy and healthy is something else. He wants to get up and go and find him straight away, to tell him he’s not going to leave him, promise that he’ll always come back. God, he wants Arto to trust in him, and right now he’d be willing to go to hell and back to earn that trust, but it’s so much to handle. Arto is so much to handle and Steve still doesn't know if he can do it-

“Steve.”

Tony’s quiet voice brings him back to the moment, and he tries to refocus.

“Sorry,” he says, forcing his voice level. “Just thinking.”

“It’s not all on you, Steve,” Amir says, and Steve feels his cheeks heat in embarrassment as Amir somehow manages to hit one of his biggest fears head on. Amir gestures to the family tree, still on display on the coffee table. “He’s identified several people around himself; you, Tony and Clint for starters. This is a big support network he’s already given you permission to use.”

Actually, hearing that helps. Steve blows out a breath and nods.  

“Not that this is going to be easy,” Amir says. “Insecure attachment can be repaired, can be fixed. But it will take time. Patience. Lots of care and consistency. Security.”

Steve hears the underlying message in his words, even if Amir didn't mean it to be there. He grimaces, leaning forwards with an elbow on his knee, rubbing at his forehead.

“Not from someone who might have to drop everything to go out into life-threatening situations without any prior warning?”

“Steve, no,” Tony says sharply from his side.

“You heard him,” Steve says, gesturing to Amir. “Imagine from Arto’s point of view. One minute I’m here and the next I’m dropping everything to go out and fight, and we know how risky it is. You know how much he hates it when I’m not here. You really think he’s going to understand the whole concept of greater good?”

“You cannot just-”

“I know, but this is something we’ve got to accept,” Steve talks over Tony, unyielding. “Why are you arguing with this, you were the one saying I couldn’t just be running off-”

“Maybe this is a discussion you two need to have later,” Amir interjects.  Tony meets Steve’s eyes, jaw set in a way that Steve knows means that he’d quite like to carry on yelling it out, thanks. Steve doesn’t back down. He meets Tony’s hard gaze with one equal in intensity, and several long seconds, Tony backs down and looks away.

Steve looks back to Amir, and he lets the fingers of his hand trail over Tony’s knee in a silent apology. Tony shifts and moves his leg away, and then after a fraction of a second concedes, leaning back against the sofa with his arm tucked behind Steve, palm pressed to his back.

“Okay, argument shelved,” Tony says. “What can we do to help him?”

Amir nods, and Steve wonders if he’s currently analyzing the hell out of them. “The same things I said,” he says. “Patience, consistency, security. Let him build that trust that you will meet his needs. Work on his vocabulary,provide lots of language-based experiences for him.”

“What about his behavior? Yeah, he’s expressing a need or whatever, but that doesn't mean he’s clear to bite and kick and scratch,” Tony points out.

“Make it very clear to him which behaviors are okay and which aren’t,” Amir suggests. “Show him the boundaries, and keep explaining it very explicitly to him. Not, ‘don’t do that,’ but ‘don’t do that because it means you’re going to hurt someone and that will make us both sad.’”

“Just like Bucky did,” Tony says. Steve looks at him questioningly and he expands. “When you were away and Bucky had to pin him down. He talked him through it and said he wouldn't let him go until he stopped kicking, because if he kicked he’d hurt me and he knew he’d feel bad about it.”

Steve nods, understanding and feeling incredibly grateful towards Bucky. He owes him _big time._  

“So I understand that there are times when you have to step in and restrain Arto?” Amir asks.

“Yeah. Only when he’s going to hurt someone. He’s - well, he’s stronger than most grown men,” Steve explains, feeling slightly defensive and wondering if they’re about to be told not to restrain Arto. “He lashes out and he could easily break something.”

“Okay. There are plenty of safe ways to restrain a child if it is absolutely necessary,” Amir says, and Steve relaxes marginally. “I will put you in contact without someone who knows more than I do; the only advice I’ll give you now if that if you have to do it, be careful of his ribs and his breathing. Small children breathe by expanding their ribcages, not from their diaphragm.”

“No holding him around the middle then,” Tony says. “We’ll have to clue Buckaroo in.”

“It’s mostly his hands anyway,” Steve says. “Once you get his hands he tends to give up.”

Amir hums thoughtfully.“So you don’t think he’s willfully trying to hurt anyone?”

“No,” Steve says. “It’s like he blows his lid, loses control.”

“He does the thing-” Tony says miming swiping at Steve’s face. “Could easily scratch you or hit you, but he doesn’t. It’s like a threat, almost. And with all this in mind,” he adds, gesturing to the writing atop the coffee table. “It’s like he wants your attention.”

Amir nods. “Another big part of this is Arto dealing with the trauma that he’s been through. Often these attachment issues develop when children can’t construct a decent narrative of what has happened to them, so they don’t know how to feel. They’ll go into flight or fight mode because they never learned to think through the experience and start to get over it. Between us, we’re going to have to help him get through that. To acknowledge the things that have happened that he can’t make sense of, and help him make sense of them.”

“But – but we don’t know what happened to him,” Steve says. “How can we talk him through it if we don’t know?”

“You are admittedly at a disadvantage, not knowing his history or where he’s come from,” Amir admits. “Therapy may be a large part of this. Encourage him to tell you, or tell someone he trusts.”

 _Or take him to someone he doesn’t even have to speak to,_ Steve thinks silently, and glances at Tony. Tony is already looking his way, and Steve wonders if he’s thinking the same thing.

Steve exhales heavily. “This is a lot to take in,” he says. Tony's palm slides up his spine to rest between his shoulder blades.

Amir smiles apologetically. “I'll schedule you in for another meeting soon," he offers. "I'll leave you with some reading today to go over what we've talked about, and then we can explore some more strategies to support Arto. Scheduled meetings aside, I will come back any time you need me,” Amir assures him. “I’ll be at the other end of the phone. Anything you need me to go over, any time you want me to come and talk to him or you, I’ll be here.”

Tony snorts. “You haven't met him yet. You may change your mind.”

“I think I’ll like him,” Amir says easily. “And I think now could be a good time to find out, yes?”

Steve nods and looks to Tony. Tony shrugs and then pushes himself up off of the couch, pulling his phone from his pocket and turning it restlessly over in his fingers.

“J, has he finished with his medical check?”

“Yes, Agent Vasquez has concluded her check up. She suggests that you meet her and Arto in the medbay as he seems quite settled.”

“Alright, thanks Jarvis,” Steve says, and checks with Amir. “Is that okay by you?”

“Certainly,” he says. “Lead the way, Captain.”

Steve wishes that for once he wasn’t the Captain, that he could just be Steve. This isn't Captain America’s issue, it’s his. His personal life, not his public one. He doesn’t comment on it though, just rises from his seat and leads the way to the medbay. Tony walks at his side, hands tucked into his pockets and thoughtful frown etching a line between his brows. Steve’s grateful for his presence at his side, knowing that Tony is in the same boat as he is.

He can hear Clint and Arto yelling the moment they step out of the elevator onto the medbay floor. It’s edged with laughter though so he isn’t worried, though he is a little concerned when he walks into medical to see Clint balanced in a perfect handstand, laughing as Arto tries to copy him. Agent Vasquez is watching from her perch on a chair, and Phil is also supervising, standing a way back with his hands in his pockets and the faintest of smiles playing around his mouth.

It’s Arto who his attention is focused on, though. God, he seems so happy. It about breaks Steve’s heart thinking about what must have happened to him in the dimension they snatched him from. Despite how bad he can be, Arto’s a good kid at heart, Steve’s sure of it. He’s only not sometimes because of the faults of other people, and it makes Steve feel so angry and helpless all at once.

“Whoa, whoa. This floor is not suitable for gymnastics,” Tony says as he pushes past Steve. “That’s strike one for today, Barton.”

“How many strikes do I get and what happens when I hit my limit?” Clint asks, swaying slightly as he walks a few steps on his hands towards Arto. Arto plants his hands on the floor and kicks his legs up in vain, obviously missing the technique he needs to be able to pull it off.

“You are a giant child,” Tony informs Clint as he drops his legs and goes into a crouch, grinning.

“So I’ve been told,” he says cheerfully.

“Me! Help me!” Arto shouts, tugging at Clint’s arm, and then he turns to look at Steve. “Steve-”

The word is barely out of his mouth when he sees Amir standing behind Steve. The reaction is instantaneous; for a split second, startled recognition flashes in his eyes, and then something close to terror sweeps over his face, and he bolts.

“Arto, _no!”_

Steve lunges after him, but he’s too far away. Clint isn’t fast enough or strong enough to catch hold of him properly, fingers snagging in Arto’s T-shirt as he tries to grab him. In a split second, Arto is out of his grip, across the room and straight into the uncovered vent that they still haven't thought to have fixed since last time.

“Shit,” Clint curses, and he’s over at the vent already, crouching down and peering inside. “Arto, what the hell? Come on buddy-”

The only reply he gets is an angrily screamed “ _no,_ ” and then Arto bursts into tears. His sobs echo inside the vent, loud and harsh. For several seconds, Steve just stands frozen in place and then he’s moving, striding over and dropping down to kneel beside the vent.

“Arto, come out,” Clint says, resting his head against the edge of the vent. He turns to meet Steve’s eyes, troubled.

“Barton, get him out,” Tony says from behind them. “Jesus, what was that?”

“I don’t know, he just looked at your friend over there and freaked,” Clint says angrily, gesturing towards where Amir is still standing in the doorway.

“He looked like he recognized you,” Steve says to Amir, and already his mind is trying to make sense of what’s just happened, wondering how the hell Arto could possibly recognize Amir, or if it’s a case of him looking like someone Arto knew-

Steve’s blood runs cold. Fuck. If Amir looks like someone Arto used to know - all Arto knows are doctors and people from the goddamn Hydra lab.

He shuts his eyes for a moment, breathes out, and then pulls himself together.

“Right,” he says clearly, opening his eyes. “Phil, take Amir and Vasquez out of the way, get them a coffee or something. Tony get over here, and Clint, keep trying, see if you can get him to listen.”

Phil nods without question, moving quickly across the room and efficiently hustling both Amir and Vasquez from the room, leaving Steve, Clint and Tony to deal with Arto. Tony walks over to join them, standing just behind Steve as Clint continues to try and get Arto to listen. Steve can hear his muffled crying echoing against the metal of the vents and it _hurts_ to listen to.

“Arto, he’s gone,” Steve calls. “It’s just us-”

“ _No,_ ” Arto screams back, and there’s the banging of fists or feet on metal. “You _lie_ \- you said no!”

The word hits Steve like a slap. “I didn’t lie,” he says. “Arto, listen to me! I didn’t-”

Arto is crying too hard to listen, so Steve stops, words cutting off in his throat. He swallows hard, thinking of a plan B.

“Clint, get in there and get him out,” he says tersely.

“But-”

“Get him _out_ ,” Steve repeats, looking around. “Where the hell is Bucky?”

“Out at SHIELD,” Clint says, and edges back. “Alright, I’m going.”

He ducks into the vent, and Steve hears the sounds of his clothes slithering along against the metal. Steve sits back on his heels, clamping his palm over his mouth. He doesn't know what’s just happened, but he’ll be damned if he lets Arto sit there alone, sobbing and feeling like he’s been lied to. If Amir says that he’s going to need Steve to spell it out for him, then that’s what he’s going to do.

His heart is thudding out of sync in his chest, strange and uncomfortable and too big. Anticipation makes all his organs feel swollen and displaced, and he’s not going to be able to settle until Arto is here with him. He can hear Clint softly speaking but can’t make out all of the words, but Arto’s crying is slowly subsiding in volume.

Two hands slide onto his shoulders, and he reaches up blindly to grasp Tony’s wrist. Tony leans right over to kiss the side of his face, and Steve catches him in place with a palm on his the side of his chin.

“I need him out of there,” he says to Tony. “I need him to know I’ve got him.”

“Tell me about it,” Tony says lightly, too lightly. “How do you think I feel? I’ve got a pair of Rogers I’ve got to get that message across to.”

And Steve looks up, at Tony meets his eyes, sad and serious. Another pang goes through Steve’s gut and twists away from the vent, reaches up to hold onto Tony’s face with both hands, still on his knees. “I know,” he says and leans up to kiss Tony, gentle and shaking. “I know.”

“Sorry,” Tony says, eyes closed and leaning down so his nose brushes Steve’s. “Not the moment.”

And Steve is _not_ going to let Tony invalidate himself like that, Arto or no. He needs Tony there with him to help raise Arto, of course he does, but that’s not the only reason he needs Tony-

“Always the moment,” he says to Tony, quiet and sudden. Tony rears back slightly, looking more taken aback than Steve would have liked, and he’s opening his mouth to reply but suddenly it’s gone quiet and he shuts his mouth again. Steve stops as well, and he hears the faint sounds of Clint shifting in the vents. Steve holds his breath as Clint’s feet appear, and then he slides out slowly, one arm still reaching into the vent-

Arto appears, awkwardly sitting and shuffling along feet first, clutching Clint’s hand like he’s never going to let go and still hiccuping out uneven sobs.

“There you go,” Clint coaxes as he gently tugs Arto from the vent, socked feet finally touching the floor. “Brilliant work, Short Round.”

Screwing up his face, Arto shakes his head and makes to turn back towards the vent, fresh tears spilling over. Steve is there in an instant, lifting Arto up and holding him tightly.

“No,” Arto cries, trying to wriggle free. “Don’t want you, don’t want you-”

“Well tough because I want you,” Steve says shakily, reaching to brush Arto’s hair back, not giving in even as Arto pushes as his hand, trying to make him stop.

“You said-” Arto manages, and doubles over crying again, a pained wail that has Steve desperately trying to shush him.

“Sit up, Art,” Steve says trying to pull Arto up by his arm without hurting him. “Sit up and tell me what I said.”

Arto straightens up, swings at Steve viciously; Steve catching his hand just as Tony makes an alarmed sound, also reaching forwards to grab Arto’s elbow.

“No hitting, kid,” Tony says, and Arto wrenches his arm free. He swings again and Steve manages to grab his hand before he gets punched, folding his fingers around Arto's.

“You said no doctors,” Arto cries angrily at Steve, shoving at his collarbones with his free hand, and Steve wonders how the _hell_ Arto knew Amir was a doctor. He’s pretty sure Arto didn’t pay any attention to Jarvis when he said Doctor Amir had arrived, so unless Vasquez or someone said something, it’s _got_ to be because Amir reminds him of a doctor from his dimension.

“He’s not a doctor Art,” Tony says, stepping up and rubbing his palm over Arto’s back. “Promise, swear on it.”

“Is,” Arto insists angrily. “You said, you said, you said-”

“Arto, _stop_ ,” Steve says, and Arto stops shouting and descends into tears again instead. At a loss, Steve just puts his hand on the back of Arto’s head and pulls him in so Arto is cradled against his shoulder. Arto doesn’t resist, just curls up small against Steve’s shoulder, arms tucked in closely.

“Is Doctor Sampson,” Arto sobs out, and Steve feels Tony go tense next to him.

“Who? Tony, what-?”

“He mentioned Doctor Sampson in passing once,” Tony says, and there’s barely controlled fury in his voice. “The one who did _tests and stuff_.”

“Fuck,” Steve bites out, and without thinking he tightens his grip on Arto, holding him closer to him. “Arto, that was _not_ Doctor Sampson,” he says. “That’s Yasin, he’s our friend. Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise.”

And all the fight goes out of Arto. He slumps against Steve, still sobbing his heart out. Steve buries his face in Arto’s hair, and in that moment all he can think of is that he’s the one that can make everything alright from Arto, and it doesn’t seem so terrifying any more, it just seems like what he’s got to do. God, this little boy has been snatched from one world and dropped right in the middle of Steve’s, and with that is an opportunity Steve never even considered-

And now, he understands the strange way his heart has been beating, the strange twist of emotion that’s left him feeling curiously light and knotted up.

It makes him think of the night he spent at Arto’s bedside, making sure he slept. Reminds him of playing with Arto the morning before, laughing as Tony smiled from the pillows next to them.  The way Arto whispers _‘green’_ , forehead pressed to Steve’s and eyes bright and wide.

And now, he thinks everything makes a lot more sense than it did.


	18. Chapter 18

Eyes closed, Steve lies back on the couch, hand still lightly stroking over Arto’s back. Arto is tucked into his side and is fast asleep, breathing deep and even and heart thudding gently against Steve’s ribs.

Amir and Vasquez are long gone. In the face of Arto’s sudden fit of hysteria, Tony had made the call that he’d had enough, asking Amir if introductions could be left for a few days. Steve is thankful for it; seeing Arto flip his lid yet again today had been agonizing to witness, and he’s not sure he can handle seeing it again.

He can hear Tony, Pepper and Phil talking over on the other side of the room, though he’s not too worried about what they’re saying; he trusts Tony to have it all in hand. Pepper has just returned to the tower after a morning of meetings, and is still in her business suit and heels, ready to go back out after a quick lunch. She’s simultaneously eating and helping look over the paperwork that Phil has brought with him, and Steve is grateful for her quiet support.

Regardless of what everyone else needs to get done, Steve has no plans on being more than two feet away from Arto for the rest of the day. He wants to stay exactly where he is, with Arto tucked under his arm, safe away from the rest of the word.

“Hey,” Tony’s voice says, and Steve opens his eyes to see him standing there with a pen and a sheet of paper. “Sign here please, Mister Rogers.”

“How much paperwork do I have to actually sign?”

“This is one of the last ones, I promise,” Tony says. “I’d do it, but you’re legal guardian, so yeah. Needs to be you.”

Wow. Legal guardian. The word settles into Steve’s mind tentatively but surely, and he exhales slowly, his hand running over Arto’s shoulder feeling almost like reassurance for himself rather than Arto.

“Come on, Rogers,” Tony says, shaking the paper in front of his face. “Haven't got all day.”

“Jarvis, I would like a copy of this please,” Pepper calls, and Tony sends her a withering look.

“Laugh it up, Potts.”

“Oh, I intend to,” she says happily. “Steve, I think you should first tell him the eight thousand things you’d rather be doing, which he can then actually point out takes longer than signing the piece of paper would. Oh! And then complain about the fact it’s a piece of paper, and ask if it can be digitized-”

Steve smiles up at Tony, eyebrow lifting wickedly. “She’s got a point. I am actually pretty busy napping right now-”

Tony holds out the pen and piece of paper. “Do it now, or i’m going to shove both pen and paperwork up your ass.”

“Tony!” Pepper hisses, scandalized.

“He’s asleep, he can’t hear me,” Tony rolls his eyes. “Steve.”

“Alright, alright,” Steve says, and carefully lifts his arms so he can take the pen without disturbing Arto. He motions to Tony who obediently perches on the edge of the couch and leans forwards so Steve can rest the paper on his back and sign it.

“What even is this?” he asks, scanning the paperwork. “Looks like it’s from the bank-”

“It is,” Tony says, twisting around and taking the pen and piece of paper back. “Trust fund.”

“A trust fund?” Steve echoes, turning to Arto and carefully lifting his head so he can slip his arm back under. Arto snuffles sleepily but doesn't wake, just burrows further into Steve’s side, mouth hanging open. He glances back at Tony, feeling a little out of the loop and maybe slightly panicked that Tony is thinking of this and he hasn’t even got past the whole ‘legal guardian’ thing.

“Don’t sweat it,” Tony says. “Pepper’s idea. Just so that whatever happens, he’ll be okay. I fully anticipate him getting to eighteen and blowing it on something ridiculous just to spite us, but hey. At least he’s got options.”

“Okay,” Steve says, and a weird thrill runs through him as he imagines what Arto will be like when he’s _eighteen_. It’s almost unfathomable to him right now. “Dare I ask how much is going into this thing?”

“No, because you will talk me down and I’m not going to let you,” Tony says matter of factly.

Steve quirks a brow at him. “You know this time I might listen to you. It’s not me you’re trying to spend obscene amounts of money on.”

“I am _saving_ money for him, not spending money _on_ him. That’s a responsible thing to do, stop belittling my being responsible.”

“Thank you,” Steve says gently. “For doing this for him.”

“Thank you,” Tony counters with a crooked smile, nodding down at where Arto is sleeping against Steve’s side. “For doing this for him.”

Steve glances down at Arto, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I figured I could handle this,” he says seriously. “I’ve got a fair bit of experience with sleeping.”

Laughing, Tony takes the paperwork back to Pepper and Coulson; Phil takes the signed sheet and slides it into a folder full of other pieces of paperwork. “That’s all for today,” he says. “I’m going to get these to the places they need to go.”

“Thank you, Phil,” Pepper says. “Wait a moment and I’ll walk down with you.”

“You out again?” Tony asks her.

“Yeah, until late,” she sighs. “New York investors are the ones who take the most reassurance. Maybe it’s because they’re the ones who see you on a regular basis.”

“Slander,” Tony says, though leans in to kiss her cheek. “See you later.”

“Be good,” she says to him. She waves goodbye to Steve and then she and Coulson are gone, talking softly and laughing as they walk towards the elevator.

“So, it’s official then,” Tony says, walking towards Steve. “Baby Rogers is officially a human being with a social security number and a date of birth.”

Smiling faintly, Steve reaches out for Tony’s hand. Tony takes it, sits on the edge of the couch next to Steve’s hip, splaying out his palm over Steve’s stomach.

“Hell of a day,” he says, and Steve laughs softly.

“You could say that,” he says. “Not over yet though.”

Tony hums in agreement, eyes going distant for a moment, biting the inside of his lip thoughtfully. He reaches up to rub absently at the arc-reactor, light shining blue through his fingers.

“You feel different.” Tony speaks abruptly, refocusing on Steve, cleft between his eyebrows. “Don’t you?”

And Steve wasn't expecting Tony to call him on it so directly, but maybe in hindsight he should have. He licks his bottom lip and then nods, feeling far too open under Tony’s gaze.

“Yeah,” he says. “Don’t make me talk about it.”

Tony’s face softens. “I won't,” he says. “I just wanted to check you’d got it. You looked a bit...uncertain this morning. Like you’d figured something out but couldn’t actually say what it was.”

A strange prickle goes down Steve’s spine, because that’s exactly how he’s been feeling since the moment in the gym.

“You know me pretty well, huh?” he says lightly.

“Getting there,” Tony says. “Come on. He’s been asleep a couple of hours, wake him up so I can get some lunch in him before we go out.”

Tony gets up and heads towards the kitchen, and Steve turns his attention to Arto. He doesn't know if waking him up is strictly the best idea, but he guesses that he can’t sleep all day. How long is a six year old supposed to nap for, if they are supposed to at all? He doesn't know, so he just goes with what Tony says.

“Hey, Smart Art,” he says, gently sifting his fingers through Arto’s hair. It’s getting longer already, still a few shades lighter than the golden blond of his own. “Wake up.”

Arto screws his face up and whines in the back of his throat, burying his face into Steve’s armpit. Steve gently shakes him.

“Nu-uh. You gotta get up.”

Arto draws in a deep shuddering breath and then pushes himself up, hands on Steve’s chest and shoulder. He blinks blearily and then zones in on Steve.

“D-D-” he tries, shoulders hunching back as he looks around, hands balling into fists.

“No, no,” Steve says, reaching for him and folding his fingers around Arto’s hands. “There are no doctors here, Art. None at all.”

Arto still doesn't look convinced, eyeing Steve with a hurt expression on his face.

“I promise you, that there are no doctors here,” Steve says. “Remember what I said? That you could sleep and I’d be here when you woke up? Look, just me, you and Tony.”

“Tony,” Arto says loudly, and staggers to stands up on the couch cushions as footsteps walk towards them.

“That would be me,” Tony says, and smiles as Arto reaches for him. Tony catches his hands in his own. “Did you have a good nap?”

“No,” Arto says without much conviction behind it. “Tony, time to go outside.”

Tony laughs as Steve sits up properly on the couch, stretching. “Trust you to remember that,” he says. “Yes. Lunch and then outside.”

Arto is off the couch and into the kitchen quicker than Steve has ever seen him move. He perches on the edge of the counter with his feet on a stool, chattering happily in sporadic and uneven bursts to Tony about going outside, asking questions about where they’re going and how they’re getting there, if they’ll be taking a car or if he’ll have to use his feet. It’s the chattiest Steve has heard him in a while, and while it’s great to hear him talking more, it also highlights just how many gaps he has in his language.

He’s trying to remember what Amir said about plan for the worst, expect the best. It’s hard; all he can think of is how wrong everything could possibly go once they take Arto outside. Aside from Arto’s temper and issues, it’s the rest of the public that he’s also got to consider. He’s not going to hide Arto from the world, but he knows it’s going to cause a stir the moment people clock that Captain America has suddenly got a kid.

 _Oh well_ , he thinks suddenly. _They can get over it._

“So, where are we going?” Tony says casually as they finish their lunch. Arto is systematically mashing a banana with one hand, though he is licking it off his fingers as he goes so Steve supposes it counts a win.

“I don’t know,” Steve says, and then realizes he’s already decided.  “Xavier.” 

“Wow,” Tony remarks. “First introduction to the world at large will certainly be a varied one.”

“There’ll be less people,” Steve says. “Seeing as he doesn't like strangers, Times Square isn’t exactly going to be the best place for him.”

“Good call,” Tony agrees. “Any other ulterior motives for going out to West Chester?”

“Well, someone seems to want to go in a car,” Steve says, and pauses. “And if Xavier can help…”

“Then we should go,” Tony agrees, and steps over to kiss Steve lightly on the mouth. “Thought you were very anti-telepath?”

“I’m very anti someone poking around in my brain without permission,” Steve says. “But Coulson always suggested it, and if we want to find out what happened…”

Tony simply nods. “I’ll drive.”

“You’re coming?”

Tony sends Steve a look that quite clearly says _‘you are being dense.’_ Steve smiles ruefully, looking down at the floor. “Can’t get three of us in the R8,” he opts for saying. “Or the Acura. Or any of your cars, now that I think about it.”

Tony’s mouth falls open and his brows knit together. “Son of a bitch,” he says, sounding stumped. “I can't drive anything. No, wait - the DB9 has four seats-”

Steve snorts. “They do not count as seats.”

“And may I inform you that state law requires a child of Arto’s size and age to have a fitted booster seat,” Jarvis chimes in. “The DB9 may not be the most appropriate vehicle considering this, Sir.”

“Not helpful, Jarvis,” Tony grouches, and then turns back to Steve, humming thoughtfully. “The Galibier?”

“You want to put him in the back of a one-of-a-kind concept car that kicks out over a thousand horsepower and can go at least two hundred and thirty miles an hour?”

“Well I wouldn't drive it at two hundred and thirty miles an hour with him in the back,” Tony says as if it’s obvious.

“Sir, the wraith also has four seats which could also fit a child with a booster seat.”

Tony’s eyes light up. “The wraith! Jarvis, you are beautiful. Excellent. I forgot that was even here.”

Steve looks pained. “Isn’t that the car with the little lights all in the interior? The one Clint calls the ‘high-end-hooker car?’”

“Barton doesn’t know shit, he drives a fifty year old Ford.”

“I prefer the fifty year old Ford to the high-end-hooker car,” Steve says flatly.

“Take your pick, old man. Concept car or high-end-hooker car.”

“The Galibier,” Steve says, grudgingly, then pauses before he adds, “but I’m driving it.”

“You are not,” Tony says dismissively. “Hey, Jarvis. Find out the nearest store that can have a booster-whatever here in the shortest amount of time.”

“We going out?” Arto perks up. “Are you going up top?”

“Technically no, because we are higher than most of the city,” Tony says. “We are going outside though, yes.”

“Outside!” Arto shouts. “Now?”

“Clean face and hands first,” Steve says, and Arto whines and slumps dramatically over the counter. “No,” he moans. “No cleaning.”

“Clean or you don’t go out,” Steve says mildly. Tony grabs the cloth and nudges Arto, who sticks his hand up in the air without getting up off the counter. Part exasperated and part amused, Steve watches as Tony cleans Arto’s hands and then rolls him onto his back so he can clean his face.

“Clean now,” Arto says, shoving Tony’s hands away. “Look how clean I am.”

There’s a long moment, and he looks expectantly at Steve.

“Okay,” Steve says finally, and Arto’s entire face lights up. “Okay. Go and get your shoes.”

“Shoes!” Arto shouts enthusiastically. “Which shoes?”

“Sneakers. The purple ones,” Steve says, and reaches out hastily to grab Arto’s upper arm to slow his ungainly descent as he slides off the edge of the counter. The moment his feet are on the floor, Arto is running, heading to where he left his shoes.

“No backing out now, Rogers,” Tony says, and Steve breathes out, rubbing at his mouth.

“Yeah I know.”

“Okay, I’m going to track down a booster seat so we’re not breaking any laws while he's with us, you get him ready,” Tony says, and he distractedly runs his hand over Steve’s shoulder before turning away, phone in hand.

Apparently the knowledge of the high tips available at Avengers tower spurs someone to have a top-of-the range booster seat delivered to the tower thirty minutes after Tony has made the call. With the help of some chocolate and a not-quite game in which Steve asks Arto to help find his shoes, jacket, baseball cap and Tony’s sunglasses, Steve manages to keep an increasingly impatient Arto occupied while Tony fits the seat, and soon enough they’re ready to go.

Keeping Arto calm seems to be a lost cause the moment the elevator doors open and they step out into the parking garage. His eyes go impossibly wide and his mouth drops open, and then he’s off. He runs from car to car, gasping and talking rapidly in broken sentences. He seems especially taken with the Audi, and Steve’s motorbike, much to Tony’s chagrin.

“What is it?” he yells, running around it in a full circle and then hopping from foot to foot crouching down and peering at the shining chrome exhaust. “Tony!”

“That is a motorbike, no you cannot go on it,” Tony says, taking his sunglasses from Steve. “You are going in the Galibier.”

“Whats a Galibier?” Arto asks, still peering at the motorbike. Steve notices that he doesn’t reach out to touch the bike, even though he’s clearly desperate to.

“It is a one of a kind car that goes very fast and was a total babe magnet until I put a booster seat in the back of it,” Tony says, and Steve sends him a _look_.

“A babe magnet? Did those words really just come out of your mouth?”

“I thought it was a witty commentary on how I have gone from international playboy to soccer dad-Stark within the space of a few weeks.”

“You have put a booster seat in a Bugatti Galibier, I don’t think that makes you a soccer dad,” Steve says, slinging his arm over Tony’s shoulders as Arto crawls around the bike. “And I think by my reckoning you haven’t been a playboy for a few years now.”

“Still had a busty blond in my bed though,” he says and Steve rolls his eyes.

“You need some new material.”

Tony smacks his palm against Steve’s chest. “Round up the kid and lets get this show on the road.”

“Okay,” Steve says, steeling himself. “Arto, get here.”

Crouching down on his heels, Steve waits for Arto to drag himself away from the motorbike, skipping over and still looking around in awe.

“Arto, listen up,” Steve says, resting his palms on Arto’s sides. Arto nods but is twisted around watching Tony, and Steve gently rocks him back and forth to get his attention. “Hey, Arto. I need you to listen.”

Arto’s head snaps around. He rubs his hands up Steve’s forearms, leaning his weight forwards against Steve’s hands. Steve takes a deep breath, thinking hard about everything he learned this morning. In particular, the bit about not setting Arto up to fail, and the talking him through everything.

God, he still has no idea exactly how to do this.

“Okay, we’re going out in the car, right - Arto, _listen_ ,” he says emphatically as Arto starts bouncing with excitement. “There’s going to be a lot to see and a lot of people. People you don’t know.”

Arto goes still, watching Steve with wide eyes.

“You stick with me, okay?” Steve says. “Everyone we’re going to see are our friends, and they’re good people. No-one is going to hurt you. But there will be a lot of them, Art.”

“Can you...make them go away?”

Steve laughs softly. “No, we can’t. But me and Tony will be there, and if you’re scared, or stressed, or angry, you let us know, okay?”

Arto nods. “Okay. Steve, I want to go outside.”

Steve sighs. He’s not sure he’s got it through to Arto yet, but there’s no way of holding him back any longer. Dropping his head, he nods and lets go of Arto’s middle, watching as he pelts away towards Tony. Laughing, Tony grabs him and swings him around, before opening the back door of the car and letting him scramble in.

Slowly standing up, Steve tries to quell the nerves that are twisting through his stomach. He’s got to have faith in Arto, and he’s got to be the one that stands tall and keeps him feeling secure. With that in mind, it’s actually pretty easy to stride over to the car and open the passenger door, climbing in and belting up.

“Right,” Tony says as he slides into the drivers seat and slams the door. “Arto, what’s the rule?”

“Belt stays on,” Arto says. He’s practically vibrating with excitement, pulling at the straps that run over his shoulders and chest, running his hands over the fabric of the car seat and the leather of the seats behind him, clearly enamoured with the sensations.

“Or what?” Tony prompts.

“Or you turn this car around,” Arto recites, and Steve laughs softly. He shifts so he’s sitting sideways in the seat, temple resting against the headrest so he can watch Arto carefully. His fingers dance over the buckle of the straps but he doesn’t actually go to unclip it, though Steve supposes that if he wanted out he’d just pull the thing apart anyway.

“You got it Smart Art,” Tony says happily. “Now let’s go.”

He starts the car up and Arto gasps, swinging his feet wildly as if he’s on a roller-coaster and not in the back of a sports car. He starts to hum, matching the sound of the car, bouncing in the seat as Tony puts the car in drive and heads towards the ramp.

“Steve, I’m in a car! Steve!” he yells, twisting around madly and looking out of every window he can.

“I know, I know,” Steve says. “Art, no yelling.”

“I’m in a car!” Arto shouts, utterly unheeding. Steve gives up, reckoning that Arto is way too excited to listen. Besides, he thinks he’d rather have him loud and excited rather than quiet and sullen.

“Here we go,” Tony says as the shutter of the garage rolls up. “Want to do a countdown?”

“Just go,” Steve says, still watching Arto. He struggles forwards against the straps of his seat, reaching out to cling onto the edge of the window, mouth hanging open and eyes impossibly wide. The sunlight slides over the interior of the car and over his face, and he goes very still as the car leaves the tower’s perimeter and pulls out into the city.

“Steve,” he whispers. “There’s people, look at the people. Look at all the people, look at all the people-”

His eyes are moving so quickly that Steve would bet he’s not processing everything he’s seeing. He tries to wriggle further forwards, impatient with the belt-

“Sit back,” Tony says, eyes flicking to the mirror, and Arto immediately slides back into the seat, though remains leaning forwards so he can see out of the window.

“This is New York,” Steve tells him. “It’s a city.”

“City,” Arto echoes, distracted. “Big buildings. No space. Lots of people.”

“You got it,” Steve says, and he’s smiling as he watches Arto, finding he’s actually glad he’s not driving. This way he can watch every twitch of Arto’s fingers, see every gasp and widening of his eyes, be there to talk him through everything he sees. Fondness curls up through his chest, and he shifts further around.

“Look, can you see the tower?” he says to Arto, pointing out of the window. “That’s where we live.”

Arto lets out a sound that’s somewhere between a squeal and a shriek. “The tower!” he manages afterwards. “Steve, what’s that? What’s that thing? What’s that? What’re the people doing?”

Steve finds himself in the role of narrator as the car pulls away from the city. Tony chips in every now and again, grinning widely from under his sunglasses and looking as thrilled as Arto does.

God, they’re ridiculous, the pair of them. Steve can’t find it in himself to care.

It’s when they cross the Hudson that Arto goes quiet, all questions knocked out of him. He stares at the wide expanse of river around them, completely awed. Steve watches him for a while but he seems okay; for some reason he’s gone from talkative mode – possibly the most talkative Steve has ever seen him – back to his more reserved self. His silence lasts for a good while; he sits and watches the world pass them by out of the window, occasionally humming or squeaking under his breath. The landscape changes as it whips by; Tony is true to his word and doesn’t drive the car at two hundred and thirty miles per hour, but he doesn’t exactly hang about either

Trusting that Arto is okay in the back, Steve lets himself sink back into the seat properly, closing his eyes and feeling the warmth of the sun on his face. Fingers reach out to brush his jaw and his mouth curves upwards.

They’re making good time and are over half way there when Arto stirs restlessly in the back, calling out Steve’s name and sounding small and uncertain.

“Yeah?” Steve turns around immediately, reaching back to rest his hand on Arto’s knee. “You okay?”

Arto twists his fingers together, looking unsure. “Do people have to stay in the cars?”

“No, no,” Steve assures him. “We’re about fifteen minutes away and then you can get out of the car.”

Tony snorts with laughter, and Steve lifts his chin to look at him. “What?”

“We should play stereotypical family catchphrase bingo,” he says. “I’ll bet you a hundred bucks he learns to say ‘are we there yet?’ within a week.”

Steve laughs softly, turning back to face the front. “Are you not enjoying the stereotypical family thing?”

“Actually, I am,” Tony admits freely. “I’ve been on board with it since he got here, remember.”

“Mmm,” Steve says absently. “It’s not so bad.”

The car eats up the rest of the miles under Tony’s deft control, and it’s barely twenty minutes later when they’re clearing security and pulling up in from of Xavier’s school for Gifted Youngsters. The car pulls up right in front of the building, wheels crunching on the gravel of the driveway.

Tony kills the engine, glances at Steve. “You ready?”

“Oh god no,” Steve says, and on impulse he leans over and kisses Tony before turning to Arto, who is looking wildly around, straining against the belt again.

“Do not touch the door,” he says firmly. “Arto, listen. I will let you out, do not touch the door.”

Arto nods frantically. He’s humming again, a high pitched keening noise in place of words.

Steve climbs out of the car and stretches, looking around. It’s a beautiful place; the mansion rising up behind them and the front lawns stretching out down either side of the driveway. He can hear the faint sounds of voices and laughter, the soft trickling and splashing of a fountain. There’s no-one to be seen around this side of the building, but Steve knows from being here before that the back lawns and gardens will probably be full of students, safely playing and studying to the rear of the building.

Stepping around to the rear doors, Steve steels himself and then opens the car door.

Arto practically falls out, obviously having worked out how to unclip his own belt. He staggers and grabs hold of Steve’s pant leg, and then he straightens up and freezes in place. His eyes are huge and wide and his fingers tighten on Steve’s jeans. He stares up at the building in front of them, and then jerkily looks down and around, trying to take in everything at once. He’s uncharacteristically quiet, mouth open but completely soundless.

The drivers side door slams and Steve glances up to see Tony walking around to them, hands shoved in his pockets. He peers down at Arto through his sunglasses, watching him for a moment.

“Did we break him?”

“Don't,” Steve says. “Arto? You okay?”

Arto nods jerkily, and turns on the spot to look away from the mansion and down at the sprawling lawns either side of the driveway. “It’s, it’s green,” he says, sounding awed. “Not buildings-”

He breaks off, takes a tentative step forwards. He stops, and his eyes find Steve’s face, hesitation written all over his features, along with a request, a plea for permission.

“Go on,” Steve says, gently and Arto takes another step, watching with fascination as his feet crunch on the gravel. He twists the toe of his sneaker into the gravel, takes another hesitant step towards the lawns, then another and another.

Steve follows him. He looks back over his shoulder and sees Tony is leaning against the car, feet crossed at the ankle. He looks casually indifferent, though Steve knows he’s anything but.

“Tony,” he calls. “Come on.”

“You’ve got this, Cap,” Tony says easily.

“Yeah. But I want you to have it as well,” Steve says, and holds his hand out back towards Tony. Without another word, Tony pushes away from the car and walks towards them, kicking through the gravel. He reaches out for Steve’s hand, sliding their fingers together. The action sends a warm thrill twisting through Steve’s belly, and he lifts their hands to his mouth and kisses the back of Tony’s hand before turning to follow Arto.

“We are so high-school right now,” Tony says as they walk side by side, joined hands pressed closely between them.

“Want to let go?” Steve asks neutrally.

“You know, I don’t think I do,” Tony muses, turning his face up towards the sun. “Even though I’m probably far too old for this shit.”

“Maybe we should have been doing this a long time ago,” Steve says, and for a moment he thinks he’s said too much, but then Tony smiles crookedly at him.

“I think we should have.”

Steve smiles down at his feet, a happy, uncomplicated twist of his mouth. As much as part of him wants to, he can't linger on thoughts of him and Tony for too long; he needs to keep an eye on Arto and make sure nothing goes wrong, that his first ever day outside goes well. He squeezes Tony’s hand and gently lets go.

Arto has reached the edge of the gravel and is standing on the edge of the lawn, staring at it.He seems to be in two minds as to whether he’s going to touch it or not, and then he lets out an excited whoop and breaks into a run, sprinting across the lawn and away from them.

“Holy fuck, he is fast,” Tony says, sounding alarmed. “Steve-”

“Arto!” Steve shouts, and Arto immediately stops and runs back towards him. Steve bends down with his hands out and scoops Arto up as he barrels back into him, laughing breathlessly.

“Outside, I’m outside! I’m up top and I’m not going up top until I’m ten,” he babbles gleefully.

“You’re up top now, kiddo,” Tony grins and Arto kicks his feet out so Steve puts him down. Arto walks back to the grass and drops onto his knees, pressing his hands to it and tearing at it, looking amazed.

“I think my heart is breaking a little,” Tony says casually, and Steve nods because he’s feeling it too. Arto is absolutely in awe over the grass; he’s six years old and never experienced the feeling of grass between his fingers or proper sunlight on his face.

“Tony! Steve!” he crows, throwing a handful of grass in the air. “Green!”

“That’s grass, dummy,” Tony says, walking over. “It’s not called green.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be calling the child a dummy?” Steve suggests.

“He is a dummy,” Tony says dismissively, and he drops to his knees on the lawn beside Arto. “Grass.”

“Grass,” Arto echoes. “I like grass.”

“You should be easier to please than you are,” Tony observes, and Arto grins. He rolls onto his back on the grass, holds his hands up in front of him, squinting in the sun.

“It’s warm,” he says curiously. “Where is the warm coming from?”

“The sun,” Tony tells him. “Light and warmth.”

Steve walks over and crouches down beside them, pressing his palm to Arto’s belly. Arto laughs and rolls away, and then before Steve can say anything he’s pulling at the laces of his shoes, clearly determined to get them off.

“Arto, no,” Tony says, grabbing for his hands. “Shoes stay on.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re outside and you might hurt your feet.”

“Won’t,” says Arto, pulling out of Tony’s grip and running away several feet. He drops down and tugs at his laces, and manages to get his shoes and socks off, tossing them aside.

“We’re raising a feral creature,” Tony says to Steve as Arto digs his toes into the grass.

“I thought we knew that already,” Steve replies.

“So. I heard you’re a daddy these days, Rogers. Wasn't sure whether to believe it or not.”

They both simultaneously twist around at the sound of a familiar gruff voice and find Logan leaning against the car, looking at Steve with his usual flat indifference. Steve knows that’s not the case though, or Logan wouldn't have bothered coming out to them or addressing him at all.

“Logan,” Steve acknowledges him and stands up. He notices the exact moment that Arto spots him too by the startled sound he makes. Arto makes a beeline for Tony, clambering into his lap and holding on tightly around his neck.

Logan’s gaze shifts from Steve to Arto, who is watching him warily, cheek pressed to Tony’s. Tony’s expression is inscrutable behind him sunglasses, even as he straightens up with Arto set on his hip.

“So it is true,” Logan says, as Steve walks over. “No mistaking that jawline.”

Steve nods. “Definitely true,” he, and holds his hand out. As always, Logan doesn't move straight away, and then slowly unfolds his arms and reaches out to shake Steve’s hand, expression giving way to a much friendlier grin.

“Who’d you knock up?” Logan asks.

“How did you know?” Steve asks, ignoring the bluntness of the question. Logan seems to notice and smirks.

“Johnny Storm,” he says. “Said you found a kid on a mission. Said the kid’s yours.”

There’s no mention of alternative dimensions, and Steve is thankful that Johnny has managed to keep his trap shut about that. Though he’s probably been told by Sue that he’s not to mention the whole dimension thing, considering that Reed would probably be hauled in for questioning.

“His name is Arto,” Steve says, and Tony steps up, hitching Arto more securely into his arms as he does. Logan looks at him again and Arto shrinks back slightly, before baring his teeth at Logan and scowling.

Logan seems to find it amusing, rather than being offended. “Friendly, ain't he?” he says, tone too close to mocking for Steve’s tastes.

“He’s a good judge of character,” Tony chips in, and Logan barks out a laugh, the edge vanishing. Maybe Steve’s the one being defensive and imagining it.

“That why you’re here? To get him a place?” Logan asks.

“No,” Steve says honestly. “He’s not got the X gene.”

“Didn’t think he would have. I mean, you’re no mutant,” Logan says, with the usual faint challenge to the words. “Unless his mother is.”

“There is no mother,” Steve says shortly, because he does not want any speculation surrounding Arto’s parentage to go down that route if he can help it. He purposefully doesn’t look at Tony as he says it.

“Captain America, a single father,” Logan says, and Steve can’t pin his voice to impressed or scornful. “That’ll make the news. People will be all over that shit.”

And suddenly Steve is very aware of Tony standing next to him, holding Arto in his arms, and he’s spent too long not acknowledging Tony’s place in his life to deny it now. “Pity it’s not true then,” Steve says shortly, crossing his arms across his chest in challenge.

Logan looks from him to Tony and Arto and back again. “Storm never mentioned that,” he says. “Finally made good on the rumours, then?”

“They were never rumours,” Steve says, and next to him Tony’s mouth is twisting as he fights back laughter.

“So, you two finally got your heads out of your asses?”

“Pretty much,” Steve says. “Hey, you know where we can find Xavier? I need to talk to him if he’s got a minute.”

“He’s in his study, and he’s expecting you,” Logan says. “Asked me to come out and be the welcome party.”

“I kinda think you missed the definitions of the world welcome and the word party,” Tony says pointedly, and he nudges Steve with his elbow and hands Arto over, going to collect his abandoned shoes and socks.

Steve keeps Arto up easily with one arm, ignoring the way Logan is looking at the pair of them with clear and obvious interest. He doesn’t know exactly what’s going through Logan’s mind but all he can do is tell himself that it doesn’t matter, that what other people think doesn't matter.

“Shoes and socks present and accounted for,” Tony says. “Art, you putting them back on?”

“Hmmm, no,” Arto decides carefully, flexing his toes. They’re already covered in dirt, and Steve half heartedly attempts to brush the worst off before Arto jerks away.

“Fair enough,” Tony shrugs. “Come on, I’m ready when you are.”

“I’ll take you you in,” Logan says. Steve nods in thanks and together they start to walk towards the mansion, Arto in his arms and Tony at his side. He’s starting to feel nerves in the pit of his stomach, and forces them down out of the way

“You ready for this?” Tony murmurs as they step up to the front door. It’s open, a soft breeze drawn into the main foyer and freshening the corridors inside. They can hear voices and laughter, a hard-to-place popping sound that seems to be causing much hilarity somewhere.

Steve wants to say no again, but he’s very aware of what Amir told him this morning, and how close Arto is, fingers gently twisting the hair on the nape of Steve’s neck as he nods.

It feels like an age yet no time at all when Logan stops, pointing them towards an oak-panelled door set at the end of a short corridor. “In you go,” he says, dropping his hand and walking away. “Congratulations, I guess,” he calls over his shoulder as he goes. “On the kid and the becoming boyfriends thing.”

“Thanks,” Steve calls back, and he hears Logan snort with laughter.

“Lets get this done,” Tony says, and he steps forwards, rapping his knuckles on the door and then pushing it all the way open. Steve follows a step behind, and Arto makes a curious noise in the back of his throat as they enter the office.

Xavier sits behind his desk, writing what looks to be like a letter. As they walk in he looks up, and a smile breaks out over his face.

“Captain, to what do we owe this pleasure?” he says, capping his fountain pen and setting it down, deftly maneuvering his chair from behind the desk so he can greet them. Steve hitches Arto up and steps forwards to shake his hand.

“Sorry to intrude without warning,” Steve says, very aware of Arto on his hip and how bizarre this all feels. “It was a last minute decision.”

“Perfectly fine,” Xavier says. “Mister Stark, good to see you again.”

“Likewise,” Tony says, and shakes hands, looking around the room. “I am still amazed how you make this place run on so little tech.”

“I’m amazed that an eye as good as yours hasn’t spotted where our tech is concealed,” Xavier replies with what could be a faintly challenging smile. “Please, take a seat.”

Steve sits down in one of the comfortable leather backed chairs that stand near the desk. Tony is busy looking out of the window at something or other, so Steve leaves him to it.

“So, this must be Arto,” Xavier says without any preamble or attempts at smalltalk, smiling gently at Arto as he clambers back up onto Steve’s lap. “Hello, Arto.”

Predictably, Arto doesn’t acknowledge him. He looks away from Xavier and up around at the bookcases that line the walls, though he isn’t growling or baring his teeth so that’s a good sign.

Steve shifts Arto to one side. “You heard, then?”

“We did,” Xavier says. “Caused quite a stir, Captain.”

“He did back home too,” Steve replies. “We’re not exactly used to having children around.”

“Unless you count Barton,” Tony chips in from the window, and Steve rolls his eyes. Tony turns to look at him, expression perfectly innocent. Steve jerks his head towards the spare seat and Tony deigns to sit down, relaxing back into the chair with practiced ease and pulling off his sunglasses. Arto chirps loudly and holds out his hand, and Tony hands over the sunglasses without argument, watching as Arto jams them onto his own face, grinning over at him.

“You look like a fly,” Tony informs him, and Arto blows a raspberry back.

“A charming young man,” Xavier says with a small wry smile.

“Takes after his Dad,” Tony says, and Arto sticks his tongue out at him. Steve resists the urge to kick Tony, mostly because Xavier is there and also because he doesn’t want to set the precedent for Arto that kicking Tony is okay.

“He certainly does in looks,” Xavier comments, inclining his head towards Steve. “He has your eyes.”

Tony’s mouth kicks up in a smile. “He’s got a Rogers’ jawline.”

“Yeah, and a Stark attitude,” Steve replies before he’s thought about the implications of the words. Tony just barks out a laugh though.

“That is all you, don’t you blame that on me.”

Steve shakes his head slightly but it’s not lost on him how weird this is, for him and Tony to be sat there joking and bickering about this, about their kid. Even weirder is that everyone that they've come across today seems to just be accepting it, like it's not weird at all.

“So, I understand you are looking for some help.”

Steve nods. “We rescued him from a hydra lab,” he tells Xavier, whose expression has gone serious, all traces of amusement gone.

“Not the most pleasant of places,” Tony breaks in, for which Steve is grateful. “And so he’s brought some issues with him. We’re trying to set it right, but until we know where he’s come from, we can't do much except guess.”

“Issues?”

Steve pauses, very aware of the fact Arto is right there on his knee. He remembers what Amir said about validating Arto’s bad behavior through expectations, and wonders if saying it out loud in front of him counts.

“Attachment issues,” he finally says, and Xavier nods, understanding.

“Which present in his behavior, I assume,” he says, and Steve and Tony both nod.

“Yeah, and we’re helping him as much as we can, but until we work out why we’re pretty much stabbing in the dark,” Tony explains.

Xavier nods slowly. “I would not recommend using my help simply as a shortcut. Have you asked him about where he came from?”

Arto makes a rude noise and turns to bury his face in Steve’s shoulder. Steve sends Xavier an apologetic look.

“Not looking for a short cut. If we could do it, we would.”

“Talking is not his strong suit,” Tony says. “Limited vocabulary, limited understanding of language. He’s told me certain things, but they’re normally without any context. Besides, his perception of what it was like is a six-year old's perception. He doesn’t get it.”

“Surely his perception is the most important?”

“In a way, yes,” Steve says slowly. “But his perceptions might be, well, wrong. If he’s not been - if his care wasn't the best, how is he to know any better? If he’s got no frame of reference?”

Xavier nods. “So, you need help understanding his perceptions of what happened to him, seeing as he can’t articulate this himself? There are plenty of ways to do this without my help, gentlemen. Art therapy, music therapy. Patience.”

“Patience isn’t really our strong suit,” Tony says frankly.

Steve nods in rueful agreement. “And we need to get this sorted as quickly as possible,” he says. “He’s also, well. He’s got the serum. Until we get a handle on his behavior, we can’t do half the things with him that he needs. He’s too strong to take out if we’re not in control of this situation.”

“So any advice on dealing with kids who aren’t exactly your average wouldn’t go amiss either,” Tony adds. “Not that he’s...well. He is different. No getting around that, I guess.”

“We can help there,” Xavier says. “He cannot be registered as a student here, but there are things we can do. Scheduled visits, set up a support network of friends, allow him to interact with other children who are, as you say, not exactly the average.”

“That would be-” Steve begins, thankful for the offer of help. “That would be amazing.”

“His best friend at the moment is Barton, so he could probably do with broadening his horizons,” Tony says, and Steve sends him an exasperated glance. “Don’t look at me like that, you know-”

Without warning, Arto suddenly sits back and pushes himself around so he can look at Xavier. One hand rests on Steve’s shoulder and the fingers of his other hand are in his mouth. Steve’s breath catches in his chest and Tony’s words go unheard because Xavier is simply looking straight back at Arto, and instinct is telling Steve that there’s a conversation going on that he’s not privy to.

God, he hates it.

Arto makes a soft noise in his throat and slowly shakes his head. Steve hitches him up but he doesn’t break eye contact with Xavier.

“Hey,” Steve calls, feeling urgent. “Wait-”

“Arto Rogers,” Arto mumbles quietly, and Steve falls silent. A hand reaches out to take his free one, and he holds tightly onto Tony’s fingers.

Arto is trembling in his arms, and his eyes have gone wide and bright, filled with uncertainty. He blinks and then presses a hand to his stomach, dragging it up to his chest and poking at his sternum with his fingers.

“Steve,” he says. “Tony.”

“Would you like to show them?” Xavier says aloud, voice calm and gentle. Arto nods jerkily and Steve hears Tony draw in a sharp breath, fingers tightening on Steve’s, and then Xavier looks to him and he’s gone.

He’s no longer in the chair with Arto on his knee. He’s sitting on a tiled floor, walking his fingertips along the gaps between the tiles and humming tunelessly. He’s stacking up wooden blocks with precision, knocking them all down again with a clatter before starting again.

Everything is faded around the edges, blurred and indistinct, murmured voices and echoing shouts somewhere in the distance. He’s running on a treadmill and knowing that if he just keeps going he’ll be good. He’s nodding as warm hands tuck him into a bed with white sheets, uncertainty creeping in as they leave.

He’s hiding, and he can hear Doctor Sampson shouting. Telling Eleanor to get him out of the fucking corner because he’s not got all day, get him in that goddamn chair because he’s got to do his tests and then get the results back to the others.

He’s sitting on someones knee, sighing as they stroke a hand over his hair, telling him that he’s done brilliantly. That he’s perfect.

The vents hiss. He claps his hands over his mouth and nose because he knows what that means.

He’s swimming, and its fun, diving in and going right to the bottom, twisting over in the water before coming back up. People watch him, writing on pieces of paper, and Eleanor crouches at the side of the pool, beaming at him.

Eleanor wipes away his angry tears. She reaches out to take the sensors off his temples and he pushes her hands away. She sharply draws back and uncertainty crosses her face, something he’s never seen before.

He’s looking at a picture of a city, and Eleanor is telling him he’ll see it one day. It’s full of huge buildings and people, and she promises he’ll get to see it soon. Her hair is long and glossy brown, and she ties it back but he pulls strands free and twines them around his fingers.

He’s screaming, not wanting to be good, because even when he is she doesn’t come for him anymore anyway.

He’s running down a corridor, and everything hurts and he doesn’t know if Eleanor or Doctor Sampson are coming for him, and he tries to get away and then someone is lifting him up, strong arms and a face like his, twisted in confusion and disbelief.

And he’s laughing and laughing and his chest feels like it’s all the wrong way up as strong arms hold him close, Tony’s face close to his and smiling like he’s been good without having to do anything. Steve’s face is also there, and he leans over and falls into his arms, holding on tight because he’ll do anything to keep him here.

He’s watching through a glass window as Steve climbs into the helicopter, leaving him behind. It’s not fair, Steve is _his_ and he’s going away and when people go away they don’t come back.

He looks up from the lego blocks in his hands, glancing over as Steve pulls Tony close, both of them sprawled on the couch. They look happy and he’s glad, because when they’re together and happy everything is better. They’re kissing again and he doesn’t quite get it, but if they are kissing then it means they’re happy and he needs them to stay happy.

Laughter echoes in the background, and he can hear Clint asking for a high-five, and a soft voice murmuring ‘ _Solnishka_ ,’ and Steve is holding him as he screams and screams, and he can’t stop and the only thing stopping him from being bad is Steve’s arms, Bucky’s arms, even the horrid metal one, and Tony is reaching out for him-

 _Steve_.

And Steve blinks and he’s back, and Arto is clinging around his neck with one arm, hand rubbing at Steve’s cheek. “Steve,” he says, looking uncertain. “Wake up.”

In a heartbeat, Steve has pulled Arto close, holding him to his front and pressing his face to the side of Arto’s head, burying his nose in his hair. He can’t breathe properly, lungs feeling tight and too small in a way they haven’t in seventy years. God, he’s _never_ going to let Arto leave his side. To be in his shoes, to feel everything from Arto’s point of view has knocked something completely loose in Steve’s chest, the same thing that had wanted to protect Arto when he’d gone to show his fighting skills in the gym, when he’d wanted to get Arto out of the vents earlier-

“Shit,” Tony curses from next to him, sounding strangled. “ _Shit_.”

And Tony must have seen it too, because he sounds wrecked. Steve turns to look at him and Tony is already holding out his hands, jaw set in a way that Steve knows means he’s fighting back a surge of emotion.

“Hand the baby Rogers over,” he says unsteadily. “Steve, give him here.”

Something angry and fierce in Steve’s chest immediately says no, and he’s shocked at the vehemence of the thought, the protectiveness that is now edging towards possessiveness. But this is _Tony_. Tony, who has become the centre of his universe, the reason he is here with Arto in his arms, the man he loves more fiercely than he ever thought he would.

Nodding mutely, Steve relinquishes his grip on Arto. Arto slides from Steve’s knee without a fuss, going to Tony and letting Tony scoop him up. “Are you okay?” Tony asks Arto roughly, tipping his chin up so he can look at him.

“Can we go back outside?” Arto asks, humming as he rubs his fingers against Tony’s beard. He seems utterly oblivious to the ruckus he’s just caused.

“Oh my god,” Tony says, pressing his head to Arto’s shoulder, back shuddering with helpless laughter. “You’re fine.”

“Yeah,” Arto says in a tone that suggests Tony’s being weird for thinking he wouldn't be. “Go back outside now?”

“Yeah,” Tony says, and looks from Steve to Xavier and back again. “Yeah, you can. Steve, I’m gonna-”

He stops, and Steve has to fight past the urge he has to take Arto back and refuse to let him go anywhere. He swallows thickly, remembering that it’s not just about what he’s feeling right now - and besides, if he freaks out there’s a good chance Arto will as well.

“Take him, I’ll meet you in a bit,” Steve makes himself say, and knows he’s made the right call by the expression that flickers across Tony’s face, relieved and grateful. Tony nods jerkily and swings Arto down to the floor, nudging him with his knee. “Come on, Steve’ll catch us up in a minute.”

“Come with me,” Arto whispers, reaching over and pulling at Steve’s wrist. He glances at Xavier and after a moment lets go of Steve’s wrist, hesitant.

“I’ll follow you in a moment,” Steve promises, and reaches up to cup Arto’s face in his hands. Brows knitting together and eyes tightly closed, he leans down and presses a kiss to the top of Arto’s head. Arto tugs back against him and Steve lets him go unwillingly, silently watching go.

“He was never harmed deliberately,” Xavier says quietly as the door closes behind Arto and Tony, and Steve jerks his chin up to look at him. “For the most part he was treated well, though not with love.”

“For the most part?” he repeats quietly, and in that moment he’s actually glad that Arto is gone because he can hear the anger in his voice. “Did you not hear - did you not see-?”

He breaks off, breathing heavily, clamping his jaw shut. He’s not sure he can carry on talking without losing his temper.

“I did,” Xavier says with a single acknowledging dip of his chin. “I saw that he has come from a place of uncertainty and fear, into one where he is starting to hope. Where he is starting to feel loved.”

“What,” Steve begins, trying to get his thoughts in order. “What did he tell you? Anything else other than what we saw?”

“He is desperate to stay,” Xavier tells Steve, as if Steve hasn’t already worked that out. “And it’s not just down to you. It’s Tony Stark, Clint Barton - it’s Natasha Romanov, all of these people he is starting to hope for.”

Steve nods. “Anything else from back - from where we rescued him from?”

“That would explain his behavior?” Xavier asks. “The fear of being left alone. The uncertainty as to when anyone would come back for him. The loneliness.”

“That doctor,” Steve says, thinking back and feeling hot anger curl in his stomach. “Doctor Sampson. What did he do to him?”

“Vengeance is not as satisfying as many people believe it will be,” Xavier says softly, and Steve immediately thinks of how damn satisfying it was to go after Hydra after he’d gotten Bucky back.

“What did he do?” he repeats, voice low and unyielding.

“From what I gather, he was the one in charge of documenting how the serum was presenting in Arto as he grew.”

“That didn’t answer my question,” Steve says, and lifts his eyes to meet Xaviers. “What. Did. He. Do.”

“The sorts of things we would class as human experimentation,” Xavier says, and there’s an edge to his voice, short and tense. “Captain Rogers, do not think that I for a minute condone what has happened to Arto. I have seen this happen through history, where mutants have been taken to laboratories and put through horrors that I never wish to see again.”

“So you know how I feel, then,” Steve replies. “Tell me.”

“Blood tests,” Xavier says. “Scans. Being pushed physically, to see what he could achieve. Nothing invasive, nothing permanently physically damaging as far as I saw.”

“Just emotionally damaging,” Steve says flatly. “Which I’m starting to think is just as bad.”

“In my experience, Captain, it is worse.”

Steve is about to argue, but he thinks of Tony and then changes his mind. What he went through in Afghanistan - he would definitely say that the arc reactor wasn’t the worst thing he brought back with him. And Bucky - he doesn’t think he’s ever heard Bucky complain about losing his arm. The other things though - Steve knows for a fact that the sharp edges of memory still knock Bucky on his ass every now and again.

He sighs heavily, rubbing at his brow. “Anything else.”

“He does not want to think about the rescue,” Xavier says. “He simply refuses and I did not force him.”

“The rescue? when we got him?”

“Yes. Whatever happened during that time, he is very afraid of it.”

“There - the complex was destroyed when we got there. Someone was inside trying to get him out, but everyone was dead. He was the only survivor, and the whole place was collapsing around us,” Steve says. “God, I’ve got no idea how long it went on before we got there.”

“I’m afraid you will have to wait until he is ready to think about it,” Xavier says.

“No, I know,” Steve says, thoughts still buzzing restlessly around. “I’m not going to force it out of him. Damn.”

“Captain?”

“The helicopter,” Steve says without thinking. He leans forwards, braces his elbows on his knees and presses his knuckles to his forehead. “When I left.”

“Yes,” Xavier says quietly.

“He was so scared,” Steve mutters. “He thought I wasn’t coming back.”

His voice wavers and he stops talking, swallowing hard. “I can’t do this,” he says, the words coming free without permission. “I can’t fix him and be Captain America. Not right now.”

And Xavier doesn’t try and talk him out of it, doesn’t even seem surprised at what Steve is saying. “I suppose you need to weigh up where the greater need is,” he says, quietly and seriously. “Does the world need Captain America more than Arto needs his father at this moment in time?”

Steve blows out a breath, sitting up. He looks to the window, hearing the shouts and laughter of children outside. “I never thought I’d be having to make this choice,” he says. “Especially not since-”

He breaks off, words failing him as he thinks of Tony. He’s unwilling to say it out loud in front of Xavier; he’s not exactly a friend and Steve’s not one for spilling his guts at the best of times. Christ, he needs Bucky.

Or, he could just go and see Tony.

“Arto needs you both,” Xavier says, and goddamn it, this is why Steve doesn’t do telepaths. He jerks slightly, as if he can physically get his thoughts away from Xavier. “He, like the rest of us, sees that you are both the best versions of yourself when you are with each other.”

And Steve laughs at that, a short broken sound. He thinks back to that moment that Arto remembered, where he and Tony were on the couch together - that was the moment that he and Tony decided that they were doing this, that they would be together properly and do their best to raise Arto together.

The moment they became a family, really. However unsure and scared and dysfunctional a family they are turning out to be.

“I need to go and find him,” he says, and it’s Tony he needs as well as Arto. “Can we - can I come back-”

“Go,” Xavier nods with a smile. “I shall follow you in a few minutes, after I have finished my letter.”

Steve nods wordlessly and then he’s up out of the chair. He slips out of the office and nearly sends a teenage boy with bright red hair tumbling to the ground as he narrowly misses barreling right into a group of students that are waiting in the corridor. He grabs him and sets him straight with a hurried apology, and then he’s off again, the bewildered voices of the students following him as he strides towards the front door.

“Dude, was that-?”

“It totally was!”

“You just got knocked over by Captain America!”

Stepping out into the sunlight, Steve immediately spots Tony standing on the grass with his back to him, and he’s not alone. He’s been joined by Storm, her white hair bright in the sun. For a wild moment he panics because he can’t see Arto anywhere, but then Tony shifts slightly and he spots Arto a few metres away. He’s sitting down on the grass and he’s tentatively watching a young boy with shining silver scales and bright yellow eyes pick through the grass a few feet away.

“Tony,” Steve calls, and Tony turns to look at him.

“Hey,” he calls back, sounding relieved. “What did-”

Steve walks straight over and cuts Tony off by taking hold of his shoulders and pulling him in, kissing him square on the mouth. Tony lets out a startled sound, hands flying up to grab Steve’s elbows.

“The hell, Rogers?” he manages as Steve pulls away. “Did he scramble your brain?”

“I love you,” Steve says frankly. “Shut up.”

Tony’s mouth falls open in something that could be shock or affront, and Steve’s heart is doing double time against his sternum. “Shut up,” he says again, and leans in to kiss him once more.

“Good to see you too, Steve,” Storm’s voice says from behind them, amused.

Steve turns to nod at her, just as Arto lets out a shout and runs at him, straight into his legs.  “Steve, Steve!” he says, voice low and urgent. “That Omari.”

He waves a hand towards the boy who is still digging through the grass. “Omari. He a boy.”

“I know,” Steve says, and he lets go of Tony so he can crouch down next to Arto, resting his hands on his side.

“He silver,” Arto says, voice dropped low in a conspiratorial whisper. “He silver but he still a boy like me.”

Steve smiles. “Yeah,” he agrees, and Arto wriggles out of his grip and edges back towards the boy - Omari. He drops onto his knees and crawls towards him, tentative. Omari comes up with a twig held in his fingers, and blinks slowly before handing it out to Arto. Unsure, Arto carefully reaches out and takes it, holding it tightly against his chest.

Steve stands up shoulder to shoulder with Tony, watching Arto watch Omari, who has gone back to searching through the grass. Storm steps up on his other side, smiling,

“He seems like a nice boy.”

And Steve nods, even though that’s not nearly enough to cover it, even though it’s so far from what Arto is - he’s wonderful and frustrating and amazing and exhausting all rolled into one, and most important is that he’s _theirs_.

“Yeah,” he says, and he leans into Tony, bumping their shoulders together as he stands close. “He is.”


	19. Chapter 19

The car slowly rolls to a halt, back in the parking basement of Avengers' tower. Arto is humming quietly in the back, holding onto the stick given to him by the boy at Xavier’s. He’s still not put his shoes back on, and is swinging his dirt-covered feet back and forwards, toes occasionally bumping the back of Tony's seat.

It’s been a quiet journey back, neither Steve nor Tony speaking much. Steve doesn’t mind; he’s been thinking about everything he’s seen and learned today, quietly mulling it over and thinking about what he’s going to do next. He suspects Tony is doing exactly the same.

Before, such a lengthy silence from Tony would have had him either suspicious or worried. However this time it’s different; he’s had his hand resting on Tony’s thigh for pretty much the entire journey, Tony’s hand covering his own.

He never thought Tony would really tolerate that sort of thing, but since that day when they rescued Arto, that moment where Tony slid his fingers into Steve’s hair to keep him steady as Natasha reset his shoulder, everything has been different.    

Now, he’s not entirely sure how they managed before that moment. The thought of still being casual with Tony, off-the record and not committed seems unfathomable.

“Gonna share with the class?” Tony asks, as he turns the engine off, not leaving any time for the silence to grow too heavy. “Hung up on what you saw back there?”

“No,” Steve says, quietly, honestly. “Thinking about you.”

“God, Arto’s right,” Tony says dismissively, looking down. “You’re gross.”

He reaches for the door but Steve leans over and takes hold of his shoulder, pulling him back around. Taking Tony’s chin in his fingers, he gently kisses him, the best response he can think of for that dismissive tone. Tony’s eyes flutter shut and he exhales softly, all argument and hints of belligerence gone.

“I meant it,” Steve says against Tony’s mouth. “If that makes me gross, then I’ll point out that you’ve been saying it to me for ages.”

“And there should be a point of contention in that very fact, really,” Tony says as he sits back, but he doesn’t sound like he means it.

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” Steve says simply.

“Wow, I know you mean it if you’re apologising without being under duress,” Tony says. He glances around at Arto, who is staring down at the twig in his hands, quiet and pensive, before turning to Steve and taking his sunglasses off.

“I don’t want to go inside yet,” he says, sudden and serious. “He’s being great. And after seeing how it was-”

He breaks off with a sigh, troubled.

Steve understands. He looks around the garage, at the shutters that have closed behind them. It’s still a gorgeous day outside, and a part of him really does want to go back out. The normal thing for parents to do would be to take their kids outside in such nice weather, right? To go to the park or something, to get out and enjoy themselves while they can.

Yeah, that's exactly what a normal parent would do. But he's _not_ normal, he's Captain America and he's still got things he has to do. He needs to go and speak to Bucky. He needs to call Amir and fill him in on what they’ve found out-

“When was the last time we did anything together?”

Steve looks over at Tony, thrown for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” Tony shrugs. “I guess we’ve never really done anything together. Kinda been half assing it.”

“Always worked well enough for me,” Steve says slowly, though he thinks he knows where Tony is going with this.

“Still working well enough?”

“Want do you want?” he asks directly.

“Can we go back outside?” Arto asks from the back. “Outside. Steve, outside.”

“Tony,” Steve gently says, ignoring Arto for a moment. “What’re you getting at?”

“Steve,” Arto calls again, louder. “ _Steve!_ ”

The last word is accompanied by a sharp kick to the back of Tony’s seat. Tony lets out an indignant sound as Steve turns around with his brows raised, and Arto is already hastily sliding back into his booster seat, holding onto the straps and looking guilty.

“Sorry,” he says before Steve can say anything. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“No kicking,” Steve says, and Arto pulls a face.

“I know, didn’t mean to,” he insists. He pulls his feet up into the seat and holds onto his bare toes. “No kicking.”

Steve accepts the apology and turns back to Tony. He opens his mouth but before he can say anything, Tony beats him to it.

“I think we should,” he says, simple and unwavering, already ready to argue it out if needs be. Steve can tell by the set of his jaw, the determination in his eyes.

“What, go back outside?”

“Yeah,” Tony says. “Take the kid for ice-cream of something. I don’t know. We can’t just let him out and show him all this and then lock him straight back up again.”

He sounds agitated, though Steve can easily see why. He would much rather take Arto back inside though, keep him safe and secure with him, away from anyone else that may try and hurt him.

Even he can admit that that might not be entirely rational or logical.

“Steve,” Arto says urgently, and before he can say anything he’s unclipped his belt and wriggled out of the straps, clambering through and falling between the gap in the seats, ending up sprawled over Steve’s lap and flailing to right himself. “Yeah, ice-cream. Tony says ice-cream.”

“Tony did,” Steve sighs as he grabs Arto’s arm to pull him up and extricate him from the footwell.

“Please,” Arto manages as Steve hauls him up into his lap, patting at Steve’s face with his palms. “Please.”

Steve breathes out heavily through his nose, catches Arto’s wrists gently in his own. A thousand objections are crossing his mind, the most prominent of them being that there is a high chance they’ll be recognized, and then that’ll be that. Arto will be shoved into the public eye so quickly that they won’t be able to keep up.

“Reporters,” he finally says to Tony.

“It’ll happen,” Tony replies, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. “At some point, it’s bound to happen.”

“You’re ready for it to happen today?”

“It’s already out there,” Tony says. “If Johnny Storm is mouthing off, and if Logan and Xavier know...”

“Please,” Arto says again, leaning in and pressing his mouth to Steve’s cheekbone. He’s hot and sticky, body warm under Steve’s palms. He smells of grass and dirt, sweat and summer.

“Not that easy, Art,” Steve says, and Arto slumps onto him dramatically.

“Ple-ease,” he whines, pushing himself up again. “Steve.”

“Your call,” Tony says. “I’ll back you up either way.”

“Alright, alright, sit up,” Steve says to Arto. Arto leans back, hands on Steve’s shoulders and looking at him hopefully. Steve sighs through his nose and reaches out to smooth both of his palms over Arto’s head.

“Please,” Arto whispers, not even objecting to Steve running his hands over his hair. “Please, please, please.”

“Art, I’m thinking,” he says, and Arto clacks his jaw shut, though the hopeful look doesn’t fade from his face.

It actually doesn’t take him all that long to decide.

He’s never been one for backing down, really. And the thought of compromising his life with Tony and Arto - before it’s even really begun - doesn’t seem like the right thing to do.

He takes a deep breath, looks to Tony. “I’m game if you are,” he says. ”All or nothing.”

To his surprise and delight, a grin breaks out over Tony’s face. “All in,” he says. “Let’s go give FOX news an aneurysm.”

Steve laughs. “Come on,” he says to Arto. “Let’s go get ice-cream.”

Arto shrieks with excitement, hastily scrambling over and following Tony as he climbs out of the car, tumbling out of the door onto the polished floor of the parking garage. Steve just rolls his eyes and gets out of the passenger side, feeling oddly giddy and reckless. He’s not an idiot; to go out there with Tony and Arto will be like a red flag to a bull, considering how excitable the press can get about them. But he can’t keep Arto hidden away forever, and he’ll be damned if he can't walk around his own neighborhood any more, just because the press might cause a fuss.

Slamming the car door behind him, he walks around to join Tony and Arto, still feeling butterflies in his stomach. It’s different to the old fear about Arto though, so different. He actually feels like he’s in control here, no longer utterly out of his depth. Maybe it’s that he’s finally feeling like Arto is his. Maybe it’s that he’s finally gotten his act together and told Tony that he loves him.

Whatever it is, it means that he wants to do this. He wants to do it, and he wants to enjoy it.

“No, you have to have shoes on if we’re going outside,” Tony is saying to Arto, who is skittering around the garage on his hands and feet, coming dangerously close to headbutting the side of the Audi considering he’s not looking where he’s going. “Arto. Shoes.”

“Nah. Steve carry me,” Arto says dismissively. “Easy.”

Tony looks at Steve, exasperated. “Ten out of ten for problem solving,” he sighs. “How much bribery do you think it’s going to take to get the shoes back on his feet?”

“I’d rather he didn’t, actually,” Steve replies. “Me carrying him is probably the best option. Means less chance of an escape.”

“Carry me, carry me,” Arto sings, and scampers over to Steve. He holds his hands up and laughs as Steve stoops down to grab him, swinging him up and setting him on his shoulders.

“I’m bigger than you,” he crows at Tony, swinging his feet and bumping his heels against Steve’s chest. He pulls Steve’s cap off and promptly sets it backwards atop his own head, looking very pleased with himself.

“You look like a reject from the nineties,” Tony tells him, shaking his head. “Alright, are we blowing this popsicle stand?”

“One moment,” Steve says, and pulls his phone out of his pocket with one hand, the other holding onto one of Arto’s ankles. He hits the speed dial for Bucky’s number and holds it to his ear, ignoring the questioning look that Tony sends his way.

The phone picks up after two rings, and a voice that is decidedly not Bucky’s answers.

“Bucky Barnes escort service,” Clint says cheerfully. “Spitting not swallowing, and special discount for senior citizens.”

“You’re terrible,” Steve tells him flatly, as from the other end of the lines there’s a thud, a curse and then the sound of Clint laughing. “I’ve got Arto with me.”

“He won’t get that joke,” Clint says, and then there’s the faint sounds of a scuffle. “Jesus, Buck, get off! It’s Steve! What - you really think I’d make that joke to Fury?”

“Well that answers my question anyway,” Steve says flatly. Next to him, Tony is rolling his eyes. “Put Bucky on.”

There’s another thud, Clint yelping in pain and then Bucky’s voice comes to the end of the line.

“Bucky Barnes assassination service. Killing and maiming, and special discount if the target is Clint Barton.”

“You two need help,” Steve informs him matter of factly. Next to him, Tony discreetly makes a rude gesture and Steve hastily turns around just in case Arto is being particularly perceptive. “Hey, I don’t need to ask really now, but you’re not working are you?”

“Nope,” Bucky says, popping the P. “Fury has given me the afternoon off. Says that he can't actually believe that I’m taking a job seriously, go home for half a day and stop scaring his agents when they’re trying to work.”

“Brilliant, you can come and help me then,” Steve says promptly. Tony jerks his head towards the elevator door and Steve nods, beginning to follow him. “We’re going out for ice-cream.”

“Ice-cream,” Arto shouts, rocking on Steve’s shoulders.

“What, now?” Bucky says. “You’re taking the kid? You and Tony?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, pulse quickening as they step into the elevator and head up to the ground floor. Arto cackles with laughter, curling low over Steve's head to avoid the low ceiling, palms sliding under Steve's chin. 

“FOX news will be on your dick quicker than you can blink,” Bucky says matter of factly. “Scandalous gay dad Captain America is front page news, buddy. Especially if your boyfriend is Tony Stark and your kid is fucking adorable.”

“I know that,” Steve says. “Getting it out of the way in one fell swoop. Think of it as a full frontal assault.”

“Only you-” Bucky begins, and breaks off. “Where are you going? Emilio’s?”

“Yep.”

“I’m on the way,” Bucky says. “Don’t look for me, but I’ll be there.”

He hangs up without another word, and Steve shoves his phone back in his pocket.

“Backup?” Tony asks casually.

“Backup,” Steve confirms. “Just in case.”

“And there’s the tactical genius that I’ve been missing lately,” Tony says. “As much as seeing you panic like the rest of us lesser mortals was great fun.”

“Hilarious,” Steve replies as the elevator doors open and then step out into the main foyer. “Lead the way, Stark.”

“If you’re planning on outing both of us with this scheme of yours, calling me by my last name probably isn’t your best call,” Tony says, though his mouth is twitching.

“What do you prefer, Tony or babe?”

Tony breaks into loud peals of laughter. It carries easily across the space, drawing the attention of the security guards and reception workers. Even though they’re discreet, there’s no hiding the surprise they obviously feel at Steve and Tony walking by with a child in tow. Especially as said is child is making loud chirping noises and shouting disjointed words every few steps.

“If you want me to laugh in your face, by all means keep calling me babe,” Tony says, reaching for the security panel hidden in the glass front of the foyer. “Arto, duck.”

Arto obediently ducks down low as they step through the doors out onto the street. He reaches out to try and touch the glass doors as they part automatically, looking wowed.

“Jarvis!” he calls.

“Jarvis will be there when you get back,” Tony says. “Unless you want to go back in now?”

“No,” Arto says immediately, and Steve’s hands fly up to grab at Arto’s knees as he instinctively tightens his grip, thighs applying an alarming amount of pressure to Steve’s neck.

“Whoa, whoa! Arto-” Steve protests, and Arto immediately relaxes, patting the top of Steve’s head.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says hastily. “I let go now.”

“Jesus, Art,” Steve remarks, glancing at Tony as he snorts with laughter.

“Natasha would be proud,” Tony grins, nudging Steve to get him going again. Dropping his hands so his fingers gently circle Arto’s ankles again, Steve nods and walks away from the tower, down the steps and onto the sidewalk. Arto gasps above him, reaching up towards the sky and spreading his fingers out. He makes a confused noise as they step into the shadow of a building, looking around.

“Tony, where has the sun gone?”

“It’s still there,” Tony assures him. “The buildings are just blocking the light.”

“Why?”

Tony laughs and easily slips into an explanation about the nature of light and dark, how shadows form and how the windows reflect the light. Arto listens with fascination, half looking at Tony and half looking around, taking in his surroundings.

It’s a gorgeous day, all warm asphalt and clear blue skies, the murmuring of New York traffic and the restless bustle of people about their business. Steve carefully watches everyone they pass, hyper aware of what he’s sure is just the beginning of a compulsive need to keep Arto safe.  

They manage around five minutes of relative peace - as much peace as they can ever hope to achieve considering they’re in the middle of New York and they’ve got Arto. A few people glance their way before going back to their own business; one woman smiles ruefully at Steve as she tries to corral a boisterous toddler of her own into a store. He smiles back at her and that’s that; he doesn’t know if she recognized him or the look was just a _‘welcome to the parenting club,’_ kind of glance.

Maybe having Arto with them is actually helping, he muses. He’s good at drawing attention because of how damn loud he is when he starts chirping and shrieking, and that seems to be stopping people from glancing at Steve and Tony too closely.

He knows it won’t last though, and he easily spots the exact moment that the first person recognises them. It’s at a crossing, and they have to wait for twenty seconds until the lights change, and as they’re standing shoulder to shoulder, he hears someone across the street mention Tony’s name.

It’s a young woman, leaning over to talk to someone at her side. She looks absolutely thrilled, excited and giddy to be seeing Tony Stark in the flesh, and her friend gasps loud enough for Steve to hear. It’s as they’re crossing the street that they realize exactly who Tony Stark is with. The eyes go wider and then confused as they spot Arto, but then they’ve gone past and all they do is shoot furtive glances over the shoulders.

“We’ve been spotted,” Steve says in an easy undertone to Tony.

“You’re six foot three and carrying an adorable yet ridiculously loud child on your shoulders,” Tony says. “Bound to happen.”

“They spotted you first actually,” Steve points out.

“I just draw the eyes, what can I say,” Tony says with a quirked grin.

“Damn right you do,” Steve replies easily, and Tony grins and slides a hand onto the small of his back as they navigate a large mob of tourists. It’s so simple yet it makes Steve smile, and by the way Tony is rolling his eyes and fighting back a smile of his own, Steve guesses the feeling’s mutual.

They arrive at the parlor and despite the good weather and limited seating, manage to snag a table right outside the front door. It’s right on the sidewalk and Steve kicks the chair around so his back is to the wall and not to people walking up behind them.

“Ice cream!” Arto shouts, and Tony winces as several people turn to look, mildly intrigued by the shouting.

“Hey, you’re disturbing the people,” he says as Steve lifts Arto off of his shoulders and sets him down on the floor. He gasps, presumably at the sensation of paving slabs beneath his feet, dropping down to press his palms to the heat warmed stone.

“Are all these people good?” Arto asks, crouching and squinting up at Steve. His feet and now his hands are covered in dust and dirt, the front of his t-shirt already mucky with god knows what.

“Yes,” Steve says, stretching a leg out so there’s some barrier between Arto and the rest of the sidewalk. “No bad guys here.”

Arto hums at that and clambers onto Steve’s knee, completely forgoing the chair that Tony pulls up for him. “I know. No Star. No Iron Man.”

“No star - his superhero name isn’t Star, you know,” Tony says, still standing and looking around distractedly. “Unless we’re still calling him the star spangled man with a plan.”

“We are not calling me that,” Steve says firmly, and Arto laughs. He shimmies around so he’s curled up on Steve’s knee facing him, and leans up to press his open mouth to Steve’s chin, the baseball cap tumbling back off of his head. He doesn't bite, but Steve is pretty sure he’s covered in a lot of spit.

“You cannot be that hungry,” Steve says frankly as he catches the hat before it falls to the ground and Arto laughs against him, pretending to gnaw at Steve’s chin.

“Okay, I better get ice cream before he eats you,” Tony says. “You got this?”

“I got this,” Steve says, tipping his head back to escape Arto’s mouth. “Brat.”

“Brat,” Arto echoes back at him, and wriggles around so he’s properly sitting on Steve’s knee. He leans forward to run his hands over the metal table in front of them, fascinated with the way it glints in the sun. He pulls the hat back onto his own head, watching Arto dance his fingertips across the table in the sunlight.

“Oh good. You didn’t eat him,” Tony says, reappearing a few minutes later. He hands over an ice cream to both Steve and Arto, sitting back in the chair with what looks like an iced mocha in a plastic takeout cup for himself.

Arto makes a pleased humming sound, licking at the ice cream and swinging his feet back and forth. He’s a barely-there weight on Steve’s knee, gentle pressure and the thump of his heels against Steve’s calf.

“Any visitors?” Tony asks, getting his phone out and tapping at it with his thumb, drink held forgotten in his other hand.

“None,” Steve says, looking left and right along the street, relaxed but still alert.

“And are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Steve says honestly. “I’m enjoying this.”

Tony isn’t stupid by any means, and Steve knows he gets it. He smiles, still looking down at his phone. “Took you long enough,” he says, and Steve kicks at him underneath the table.

They fall into an easy and companionable silence after that. Steve demolishes his ice cream in less than a minute so sits back in the sun to keep watch as Tony talks to Arto, simultaneously working on his phone. Steve doesn’t call him on it; he has full faith in Tony’s multitasking capabilities, and besides, Tony has given up so much of his time to care for Arto that Steve knows he’s probably neck deep in a backlog of SI and Avengers work.

“So, this is weird, right?”

Tony drops his phone to the table with a clatter, breaking the silence between them as as he leans back in his chair. “This feels weird,” he clarifies, pushing his sunglasses back up his nose.

Still leaning back against the wall behind him, Steve rolls his head to the side. “Good weird or bad weird?”

“Kinda like the weird when we first – first got together,” Tony says. “A bit of ‘wow,’ and a lot of ‘Oh my god, whose fucking idea was this.’”

“No flaking out on me now, Stark,” Steve says with a small smile.

“Yeah, Stark,” Arto echoes, licking a drop of melted ice cream off of his knuckles. 

Tony chokes with laughter. “Well, if both of you are ganging up on me,” he says casually, and then dips his chin so he can look at Steve over the top of sunglasses. “Are you still scared I am actually going to flake out?”

“Not anymore,” Steve says honestly.

“Not anymore?” Tony asks, still looking at Steve with brows raised. He leans back in his chair, kicking one leg up over the other, ankle resting on his knee. He’s gorgeous, all lazy indolence, basking in the warmth. “Feel free to clarify.”

Steve shrugs. “Well for a while there I was pretty convinced you were about done with me.”

“I was done with your shitty attitude, not you.” Tony says. “Dumbass.”

“Dumbass,” Arto mumbles around a mouthful of ice-cream, and Steve and Tony look at each other and then just shrug.

“Mine wasn’t the only shitty attitude,” Steve says, leaning back in his chair and hitching Arto more securely onto his lap.

“I’m going to kiss you to shut you up,” Tony says, shifting in his chair and sitting forwards as if he’s going to do exactly that. “See how TMZ like that.”

“Go on then,” Steve says boldly, and Tony laughs shortly.

“Skrull,” he says. “My Steve Rogers doesn’t torment the press. Don’t torment the press, Steve.” He pauses, and then pulls a face. “Oh god. Don’t tell Pepper I said that.”

“Alright,” Steve laughs. “No tormenting the press. You can owe me one later. I think my schedule is pretty free.”

“Oh, that reminds me. I actually need you and Romanov to look over the new quinjet design. You’re bound to want more space for guns and stabby things.”

“And a safety harness for Hawkeye,” Steve adds vaguely, looking down as Arto slides off his knee. He keeps one hand on his shoulder, but all Arto does is shove his free hand into his pocket and pull out a Lego figure that he’s evidently smuggled along for the ride.

“Look,” he says to Steve, brandishing both Lego figure and ice cream in his direction. The ice cream slides dangerously to the side, and Arto looks at Steve, mildly panicked. “Steve,” Arto says, holding up his ice cream. “My ice cream is breaking.”

“It’s melting,” Tony corrects him and reaches out to take it, efficiently licking around the edge of the cone to catch the worst of the melted ice cream. “You can’t hang around when it comes to ice-cream, kid.”

He hands the cone back, and Steve feels his heart swelling at the simple, easy way that Tony has settled into being a parent to Arto. He opens his mouth to make some sort of comment about it, when a curious voice interrupts.

“Tony Stark?”

Steve quickly picks Arto up and sets him back on his knee. Luckily, Arto neither objects nor notices the young man that’s perching on the edge of a chair on the table the other side of the door from theirs, looking at him excitedly.

“What? No. But I get that a lot,” Tony says over his shoulder, not fully turning to face whoever it is speaking to him. “Must be the beard.”

“Come on, nice try,” the young man says, sounding amused. Sliding an arm around Arto’s middle, Steve looks at him out of the corner of his eye. He’s young and eager looking, twisted around in his chair with his arm slung over the back of it, and in his hand is a cell phone.

Journalist? Fan? Protester? Autograph hunter? Job seeker? There are countless people who would want to talk to Tony Stark if they saw him out and about New York, and Steve still can’t pin down which category this man falls into.

“Osric Biao from NG Reporting,” the guy says clearly but a little nervously, and Steve’s heart quickens in his chest. A reporter. Though there is the slight silver lining that he’s not from one of the bigger news corporations, which immediately gives them more leverage if they do choose to talk to him. With a smaller company, Steve has much more power to dictate exactly what is said about them.

That is, if he does decide that now is the moment to let the world know that they’re in a relationship and they’ve got a kid.

A peculiar feeling rises in his chest, and it takes him a moment to pin it down to fierce pride. Arto is his son, and Tony is the man he loves, and it’s about god damn time the world knew it.

“I’d like to quickly talk to you about the Avengers involvement in the situation in LA?” the guy says in a rush, straight into it and not even trying to flatter, bribe or manipulate his way into Tony’s good books like many reporters are wont to do. He’s either fairly inexperienced or has no tolerance for bullshit. Either way, Steve can work with it. “Why weren’t any of the other Avengers there? In terms of crowd control and collateral damage it seems like at least Cap should have-”

Tony glances across at him, face still obscured by the sunglasses. He’s probably thinking the exact same thing as Steve, wondering if they can use this guy to their advantage somehow.

Steve’s already got it all worked out.

He clears his throat loudly and the reporter looks over to him. He frowns, and Steve reaches up to push the baseball cap up so his face is no longer in shadow.

The guy’s jaw literally drops. His mouth falls open and his eyes go wide. “Captain America,” he says, momentarily taken aback. He looks up at Steve, down at Arto, up and Steve and then down an Arto, expression growing steadily more confused.

Arto doesn’t seem to like the scrutiny. Scowling, he twists around in Steve’s lap, kneeling up and winding at arm around Steve’s neck. His eyes settle mistrustfully on the reporter, his fingers threading into the hair on the back of Steve’s head.

“Okay, maybe asking about LA isn’t the priority right now,” the reporter says slowly, brows still knitted in confusion. “What-”

Lolling his head back, Tony uses a foot to kick out the spare chair at their table, and then calls over to reporter. “Come take a seat.”

The guy slowly gets out of his own seat and sinks into the one between them, wide eyed. Tony holds out his hand to shake and the guy does, though he can barely take his eyes off of Steve and Arto, clearly struggling to work out what to do.

“Okay, you’re clearly new at this,” Tony says, patting the reporter on the shoulder. “I would start by breathing.”

Arto chooses that moment to blow a loud raspberry at the reporter, looking at him defiantly. “Make him go away,” he whispers to Steve, sounding petulant.

“Shush,” Steve murmurs back. “Can’t make everyone go away, Art.”

“Can,” Arto replies grouchily. “Superhero.”

“Be good,” Steve tells him mildly. “He’s not going to hurt you.”

The reporter now looks like he’s been punched in the face. He gapes at Steve and Arto, and Steve reminds himself that he better get used to being stared at like that considering they’re about to go public. Besides, it’s not like he really gives a rat’s ass about people staring at him, it’s the way it’s Arto in the firing line that he doesn’t like.

“Hey, kid. Over here,” Tony says, clicking his fingers in front of the reporters face to get his attention. “I know he’s gorgeous, but tear your eyes away from Cap for ten seconds and tell me more about your company.”

“I-” the reporter begins and then seems to come back to himself, realizing that he’s been staring for quite some time. Steve can literally see the guy pull himself together and remember that he’s actually got a job to do. He looks around and then grabs his bag, opening it with fumbling fingers. “NG Reporting,” he says as he roots for something; a card on a lanyard. “We’re a web based news team, mostly focused on social issues. Here’s my ID card.”

“Oh yeah, I know you guys,” Tony says as he takes the card. “Call the press line every so often wanting to set up interviews about the sustainable energy projects.”

The guy looks genuinely surprised that Tony knows the company, not least that he’s remembered such a detail. “Yeah,” he says. “Your PR team talks to us but we always try and hope you’ll do a piece with us.”

Tony shrugs. “How about we offer you a piece now to make up for blowing you off?”

“What, _now?”_

“Yep. Right now. Though instead of talking about sustainable energy, how about we introduce you to the newest Avenger over there? I’m pretty sure he counts as a social issue, considering.”

The reporters head snaps back around to Steve and Arto, looking like he can hardly dare believe what’s happening. “Both - I can talk to both of you?”

“Only if you do it on our terms,” Steve says calmly with an affirmative dip of his chin. “You get the exclusive, I’m going to tell you exactly what’s going on here, but it doesn't hit until tomorrow. You’re going to record it, and you’re not going to misquote me or take anything out of context or I will have both the Avengers law team and the Stark Industries law team come down on you so hard you won’t know what’s hit you.”

“Besides, you don’t really want to disappoint Captain America, do you?” Tony adds breezily, leaning back in his chair and sipping at his drink.

The guy nods fervently and he blows out a steadying breath. He taps at his phone, lifts it to show Tony he’s got a recording going, and then sets it down on the table in front of the them. He looks around the table again and then settles on Steve, deciding to start there.

“Oh man. I guess  - I guess I should start by asking you who the miniature version of you is?”

“This is Arto Rogers,” Steve says, and he never thought it would be so easy to say. “He’s our son.”

The man looks from Steve to Tony so fast he’s probably given himself whiplash. “ _Our?”_   he asks in disbelief, and then again seems to remember he’s a professional. “I’m sorry, did you say our son?”

“Our,” Steve confirms.

“You mean you and Tony Stark?”

“Yes,” Steve says.

The guy stares at him, and then stares at Tony. Tony simply raises his coffee in a toast, smile spreading into a grin.

“That gonna be a problem?” Steve asks.

“Oh hell no,” the guy says vehemently. “That’s the opposite of a problem. I just - really? Wow. Oh my god, and you -”

He cuts himself off reigning it in and evidently trying to focus on a coherent train of thought and questioning. “Is this - is he - he’s not biologically yours is he?” the guy asks. “I mean, strange things do happen to you guys-”

“Biologically he’s mine,” Steve says. “Tony is my partner, and he is Arto’s father.”

The guy stares in disbelief, twisting from side to side and looking around him as if he’s expecting to see an elaborate set up, some holding a sign saying ‘ _gotcha_ ’. “I’m sorry - we don’t see you in public for a month and then you come out as gay, say you’re in a relationship with Tony Stark and you’ve got a kid?”

“Like you said, strange things happen to us guys,” Steve shrugs. “Besides, I never said I was gay.”

“Okay, I really don’t want to take anything out of context here,” the guy says. “I’m inferring from that that you’re bisexual?”

“He’s Stark-sexual,” Tony grins and Steve rolls his eyes.

“Sexuality is fluid,” he shrugs. “At the moment I’m in a relationship with a man, and we’re happy. That’s all you need to know, right?”

“He’s being a troll,” Tony says. “He’s hella gay. Well, eighty-two percent hella gay.“

Steve is about to retort with a comment about _Tony’s_ sexuality but thankfully he’s interrupted, even if it is by Arto getting grumpy. “Go away,” Arto mumbles, turning his face into Steve’s and hiding in his shoulder.

“Be nice, Art,” Tony says. “This guy is here to tell everyone you’re Arto Rogers.”

Arto lifts his head, startled. “Everyone?”

“Yep. So you’ll be stuck with us forever if everyone knows,” Tony says, and Arto grins at him. He holds out his lego figure towards Tony and then seems to change his mind, pulling it back towards him. He wriggles in Steve’s grip and then slides off his knee, ducking under the table.

“Whoa,” Steve protests. “Back up here, please.”

“No, I sit down here,” Arto says, sitting cross legged on the floor under the table and peering up at Steve. “I play.”

Deciding not to make it into a battle, Steve just shakes his head and twists around so he can bracket Arto in under the table with his leg again.

“He do that often?” the guy asks weakly, apparently utterly stymied by both their bickering and Arto’s strange predilection for sitting under the table.

“Does what he likes,” Tony says. “Takes after his dad.”

He’s enjoying this far too much, Steve can tell,  though he supposes he’s earned it. 

“Does - where did he come from? How come we’ve not seen him until now?” the reporter asks. He shifts in his chair, eyes darting downwards like he’s desperate to look under the table and stare at Arto some more.

“I didn’t know about him until recently,” Steve says, choosing his words carefully. “He was born without my knowledge in the hands of Hydra.”

The guy rears back. “Hydra?”

“Yes,” Steve says cooly. “They thought stealing my DNA and breeding super-soldiers would be a good idea.”

“Oh hell,” the guy says. “How-”

“Not at liberty to discuss,” Tony chips in smoothly. “You just need to know he’s rescued, he’s safe, he’s legally in our custody and he’s not going anywhere.”

“Is there - does he have a birth mother?”

“No,” Steve says. “Died in childbirth.”

“Oh my god,” the guy says. “Do the - do the other Avengers know?”

“Of course they know,” Steve says. “He lives with us, and we’re not exactly hiding him.”

“Jesus, this is above my pay grade,” the guy says, and rubs at his face. “Oh man. I don’t even know what to ask - god, would you let me ask him a couple of questions...” He gestures beneath the table, looking a bit helpless but still so excited.

“Why do you want to talk to him? That might require a higher clearance level than yours.”

“Well. He lives with superheroes, his dad - his dads are superheroes. How is that?”

“Hey Art, what’s it like living with superheroes for dads?” Tony calls.

“Good,” a voice says nonchalantly from under the table. “Can I have more ice-cream?”

“There you go, from the boy himself,” Tony says and then turns his head towards Steve. “How about we wrap this up and get home?”

“Wait, wait,” the man says, protesting. “I need some more - how long have you two been together? When did that happen?”

Tony stands up. “Years, been discreet, came out when Arto arrived,” he rattles off. He leans forwards and taps something on the reporters phone, stopping the recording. “You wait until tomorrow morning to release this, then call the press line and we’ll sort something out.”

“Are you talking - are you talking exclusive access?” the guy says, grabbing his phone and standing up. “All future-”

“I’m talking you playing by our rules, and when the rest of the press go crazy over this, you come back to fill in the gaps.”

“Alright,” the guy says immediately and holds out his hand for Tony to shake. “You got it. Thank you so much - and congratulations, I guess.”

“Appreciated,” Steve says, and leans over to shake the guys hand. “No misquotes, gottit?”

“Yes Sir,” the guy says fervently. “You got it.”

Steve nods and steps back. “Arto, come on.”

Arto appears from under the table, looking disappointed. “We got to go home?”

“Yeah, check Clint’s been behaving while we’ve been out,” Steve says, and thankfully Arto’s face breaks into a smile. He reaches for Arto and Arto comes willingly into his arms, happy to be picked up and set on Steve’s hip.

“Could I get a picture?” the reporter asks as Arto reaches for Steve’s hat again. Steve sets it on Arto’s head, and glances towards Tony. “Just a couple. Candid shots.”

“As long as they’re flattering,” Tony says, and shoves his phone into his pocket. Steve reaches for the half empty cup Tony’s still holding and takes it from him, stealing a mouthful.

“Me?” Arto asks and Steve shakes his head, passes the cup back.

“No. Too small."

“Not,” Arto pouts. “Barton lets me.”

“Barton better not be letting you have coffee,” Tony remarks before Steve can, glancing up across the road. “Steve, lets go, we’ve been spotted.”

Steve nods, hitching Arto up. “Okay,” he says, and turns to the reporter. “Remember the rules, okay?”

“Yes, Sir,” the reporter says. “You got it.”

Steve nods gratefully and then turns to Tony. He’s barely opened his mouth to speak and then Tony is right there, leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth. It sends a thrill through Steve, right down the the very tips of his toes, fiercely and unapologetically proud.

“Home?” Arto whispers to Steve as Tony leans back, placing his palms on Steve’s cheeks and pressing his forehead to Steve’s temple. “Going inside. Can I come back out soon?”

“Of course,” Steve murmurs. “You got your lego?”

At Arto’s nod he starts walking away, listening to Tony saying goodbye to the reporter. Tony falls into step beside him, hand resting in the small of Steve’s back. Arto wriggles around so he’s draped over Steve’s shoulder, watching the world behind them.

As they walk away from the parlor, Steve somehow feels lighter, like a burden has been lifted from his shoulders. Though in a way, he wishes that burden had never been there in the first place - he knows how much easier it would be to be a father to Arto if he wasn’t Captain America. But then again, if he wasn’t Captain America, Hydra would never have tried to clone him and he wouldn’t have Arto. Yeah, he might have got married and had kids the normal way, but he wouldn’t have _Arto._

Unbidden, thoughts from before stir restlessly in his mind, the ones that wonder if he can be both Captain America and a father to Arto right now. He said it to Amir this morning, he said it to Xavier this afternoon, and it's not just going to go away. It’s between the shield in his hand or the boy in his arms, and he’s always suspected it but now he knows what the answer has to be.

It’s on the tip of his tongue to bring it up with Tony, to say it out loud. But Tony looks so content and happy and Steve desperately wants to keep hold of that. Tony hadn't been at all receptive to the idea the last time Steve mentioned it to him, and he doesn’t want to start an argument, especially not in public.

“What’s up with you? You’re pulling the thinking face,” Tony says casually, jarring him out of his contemplation.

“No, I was just going over the fact that we kinda just gave an unknown reporter exclusive access to stories about us and Arto,” Steve says, shoulder bumping against Tony’s as they walk. Dappled shade from the trees lining the edge of the sidewalk slide over them, a soft play of light that's calms him somewhat, enables him to push away the twisting uncertainty.

“Don’t sweat it,” Tony says. “Good thinking with that, by the way.”

“Master tactician,” Steve says, only feeling slightly guilty about lying. It's not exactly like he wants to keep Tony in the dark, but he knows he's got to make the call himself, and he can't work out why Tony is so against the idea of him stepping back for a while anyway. 

Tony snorts with laughter. “I should make you head of PR.”

“Can you imagine the aneurysm that Coulson would have if I was?” Steve says. “I distinctly remember him being unimpressed with my attitude towards the press.”

“Delicate is not exactly your forte,” Tony agrees, and then his expression turns exasperated and he raises his voice to call over to someone nearby. “Oh hell. Where were you?”

Steve looks up to see Nat and Bucky strolling casually towards them along the sidewalk, Nat’s arm linked through Bucky’s. Tony stops half a step later and huffs out a laugh as they wander up. Nat is wearing huge sunglasses that cover half her face, hair pulled up into a messy bun. She’s wearing jeans and a Captain America t-shirt of all things, a quiet smile quirking the corner of her mouth. Bucky is dressed less appropriately for the weather, wearing a hooded jacket to cover his arm.

“Better late than never,” Tony says flatly. Arto seems to recognize Nat and chirps excitedly, swaying in Steve’s arms. She steps forwards, hands out, and Arto hesitates for a moment and then shakes his head.

“It’s Natasha,” Steve says, pleased by Arto's positive reaction to her though glad he's still the one to have hold of him. “You know Natasha.”

“Don’t worry, if it were my first time outside I’d take the big, buff, blond for protection too,” Natasha says, reaching out to flick her fingers under Arto's chin, making him grin. “He obviously doesn't know any better yet.”

“You’re hilarious.”

Bucky rolls his eyes. “We were there the entire time. You look like you handled everything fine from where I was lurking. Though stopping with the kid for ice-cream was probably a dumb idea.”

Natasha elbows him. “Stopping for ice-cream was the best idea,” she says to Arto, who giggles and nods. “You just need to work on your disguise, Rogers,” she says, reaching out to flick the peak of his cap.

“Better than Stark, he didn’t even bother,” Bucky says.

“One day you might prove yourself to be useful,” Tony says to him. “Today is not that day.”

“Maybe we weren’t trying to hide?” Steve suggests, cutting off Tony and Bucky before the bickering gets out of hand. 

“You did that on purpose?” Natasha asks, raising an eyebrow and looking impressed. "The reporter?"

“Staged leak,” Steve confirms. “Told the guy to release it tomorrow morning, give us time to get home and settled.”

“And warn Pepper,” Tony says, vaguely, flicking at a holoscreen on his phone. “I’m totally telling her this was your idea by the way.”

“Fine by me,” Steve says, because he’s got bigger things than Pepper to deal with when he gets home. Her despairing over their dabbling with the press is the least of his worries, all things considered. “Come on. Lets get home.”

 

* * *

 

Arto is still full of energy by the time they get back to the tower. He stays in Steve’s arms, leaning over his shoulder to chatter to Natasha, waving the lego figure at her and adding his own sound effects as he goes. It’s not very coherent, but she endures it with a remarkable amount of patience and fondness. Tony stays on his phone, emailing and texting and doing god knows what, leaving Steve and Bucky to walk side by side, Bucky vehemently denying that he and Barton ever gave Arto caffeine because they’re not fucking stupid thanks.

Even though he doesn’t regret going out there today, its a relief when they step back into the tower and he can properly relax. Arto wriggles out of his grip in the foyer and scampers towards the stairs, and Steve sighs and follows him as the others all pile into the elevator, Tony waving at him and laughing as the doors slide smoothly shut.

Arto doesn’t seem fazed by the sheer amount of stairs, and it’s not exactly taxing exercise for Steve, even though it takes forever. In fact, by the time they reach the communal floor, Natasha is relaxing with a book in hand, Tony is already halfway down a mug of coffee and Bucky is sprawled out on the couch next to Clint, television remote held in his metal fingers.  

“Clint!” Arto shrieks, and he’s off like a shot. Clint sits up and laugh as Arto leaps at him, all clinging arms and high-pitched chirps.

“You went for ice-cream without me, you traitor,” Clint grins. “Though you seem to have brought a fair bit back on your shirt.”

Arto is laughing and hugging Clint tightly, telling him about his day with a series of expansive gestures, nearly hitting Natasha in the face as he wildly gesticulates. She doesn’t even flinch or look up from her book.

It’s dysfunctional and not exactly what Steve ever anticipated his life ending up, but it’s perfect. It’s home.

And it’s where he needs to be.

Steve smiles tiredly at Tony, who grins back at him, waving a tablet in his direction. “Come on Rogers, I need you to come and look at this jet design. Romanov, can I have you as well?”

“I just need to talk to Bucky first,” Steve says, and Bucky lifts his head from the cushions, questioning frown on his face.

“I told you, we didn’t feed the kid coffee.”

“Not about that,” Steve says, jerking his head towards the elevator. “Come on.”

Bucky salutes sloppily and rolls up onto his feet in a languid movement, yawning and stretching.

“Wait!” Arto cries. “Steve!”

“I’m going up to our floor to talk to Bucky,” Steve tells him, pausing in place for a moment. “Stay with Tony and Clint and I’ll come back.”

Arto nods uncertainly, and then he scrambles over the back of the sofa and runs over to Tony, arms up and outstretched. Tony scoops him up and holds him close, one arm keeping his up and his other hand stroking over the back of his head. He sends Steve a questioning look but Steve just shakes his head and turns towards the elevator.

He needs to do this, and he can't let Tony talk him out of it.

He feels Tony’s eyes on him all the way into the elevator, until the doors are closing on them and he’s ghosting his fingers over the panel that will take them to the penthouse. He taps his restlessly against his elbow, impatient.

“What’s up?” Bucky asks without preamble as they step out onto the penthouse floor.

Steve walks over to Arto’s section of the room, picking up a stray sock and a pair of pajama pants. There’s several lego pieces scattered over the carpet as well and he crouches to pick them up, dropping them into the palm of his hand.

“Steve?”

“I need you to take the shield.”

A ringing silence follows his words. He stands up and drops the lego onto the top of Arto’s dresser, shoving the clothes into the wash hamper.

“Fuck off,” is the first thing that Bucky manages to say. Steve laughs, turning and sitting heavily on the edge of Arto’s bed.

“For a few months,” he says. “I can’t do both right now, Buck. I can’t be what the world needs and what Arto needs.”

“Steve, no,” Bucky says, though he sounds more uncertain than anything. He walks over and cocks his hip against the edge of Arto’s couch.

“He’s got something called ambivalent attachment disorder,” Steve says. “Fear of being separated from his caregiver. And I don’t have a hope in hell of fixing that if I have to up and leave without warning.”

“Shit, is this what the doctor said this morning?” Bucky asks. “Man, that sucks. Kinda makes sense though, if you think about where he came from.”

“He was locked in the lab for all of his life,” Steve says bitterly, the words piercing like knives. “Nothing but pictures of the rest of the world that he wasn't allowed to see. He was allowed up a floor up to train, and then went back to the lab. Some days he didn’t see anyone. The only person who showed him any kindness was a woman, but then she helped get him ready for testing anyway.”

“Fuck, man,” Bucky says, hollow. “I’m so sorry.”

“He’s mine, Buck,” Steve says, and the word catches in his throat, raw and jarring. “He’s my son, and I have to do right by him. If there’s one thing I can get right, it’s got to be him.”

Silence falls between them. Steve can hear the soft humming of electrical appliances, their quiet breathing. He shakes his head, turns his face to the window, letting the sunlight warm his face. He doesn’t want to do this, but he has to.

Quietly, Bucky moves. He goes and sits on the bed next to Steve, bumping Steve’s leg with his own. “Not permanent, right?”

“No,” Steve says. “Just until he can understand.”

It’s a poor explanation, but Bucky seems to get it. “You’ll have to teach me to throw the shield properly,” he says, rubbing his mouth.

“Piece of cake,” Steve says. “You’ll pick it up.”

“Is Captain America allowed to develop a sudden appreciation for guns?”

“No, Buck.”

“Dammit,” Bucky says. “How long are we talking, here?”

“I don’t know,” Steve admits. “A few months? Just long enough to get him settled. He’s getting better already, but I don’t want to risk undoing that.”

Bucky nods, twisting his fingers absently in the blanket by his hip.

“Your son, eh?”

“Shut up,” Steve says mildly. “Well, look at him. There’s so passing him off as anyone elses, is there?”

Bucky barks out a laugh. “I told you,” he says, shoving his shoulder against Steve’s. “Pfft, remember when you were worried about not getting it?”

“Oh, I’m still worried,” Steve says. “Doesn't make him any easier to deal with just because I know he’s mine.”

“You know, I think it will,” Bucky says cryptically. “We telling everyone?”

“The Avengers,” Steve says. “Fury and Coulson. That’s it. As far as the world is concerned, I want them to think it’s still the same guy out there. I know you’re up to it, but Hydra get wind that there’s someone else behind the shield and they’re going to do their damnest to get at you, prove a point.”

“Gotcha,” Bucky says. “Hey, you’d be better asking Barton if you don’t want anyone to notice. He’s about as blond as you.”

“Only person I want to do it is you.”

“Aw, shucks Stevie. I might cry."

The sound of the door opening stops their conversation. They both look up, and it’s Tony who walks in, hands in his pocket and expression quiet. His eyes are fixed on Steve, and he looks almost resigned.

If he hadn’t just surrendered the shield, Steve would bet it that Tony knows exactly what he’s just done. The things is, he doesn't look angry. He doesn't even look surprised. He just looks quietly accepting and sad, and-

And Steve has horribly misjudged this. He's been a fucking _hypocrite_ , because he's ended up doing what he hates Tony trying to do, assuming he knows how Tony will react without even trusting him.

“Bucky, give us a moment,” he says quietly. Bucky nods and stands up, walking away without another word. Even as Bucky brushes past him, Tony doesn’t look away from Steve. He just stands there, silently watching him.

“Tony.”

The word breaks the silence between them. Tony looks down at his feet, and without saying anything walks slowly over towards Steve. He stops nearby, fingers skittering restlessly over the top of Arto’s dresser, picking up and dropping the lego pieces that Steve picked up earlier.

“So,” he says as Steve sits there silently. “Option A. I get the suit, we brawl it out. Option B, we ignore each other for a week. Option C-”

Steve shuts his eyes. “I apologize for not talking to you first,” he says before Tony can say anything else. “I realize that what I just did was a dick move, because it’s not all about me anymore.”

He shakes his head, rubs at his brow and swallows thickly. “And I should have thought about it earlier than now, but I didn’t. And I’m sorry.”

He hears Tony move closer, and then strong hands are lifting his face up. Tony nudges his way between Steve’s knees and strokes his thumbs over his cheekbones.

“Having that kid has knocked all the self-righteousness out of you,” he says seriously, and all Steve can do is laugh shortly. Tony bends down and gently kisses him, and Steve is almost dizzy with relief and gratitude.

“I’m still tempted to suit up and knock you around a bit.”

Steve hums against his mouth. “Could take me in the bedroom and knock me around a bit?”

Tony laughs, a soft exhale of air across his mouth. “I see you’re still using sex to distract me. Glad to know not everything’s changed.”

“Where’s Arto?”

“With Clint and Natasha,” Tony says. “I told him that one of us would be back in an hour. Jarvis is keeping time for him.”

“An hour?”

“In my defense, I thought we would be yelling at each other for quite some time.”

Steve stands up, catches Tony by his hips and walks him backwards out of Arto’s space and towards their bedroom door. “I’m not changing my mind.”

“I’m not mad at what you did, I’m mad that you didn’t think to include me in your devious plotting.”

“Next time I decide to give up my superhero alter-ego, I’ll run it past you,” Steve says. He wraps his arms around Tony’s neck, leans in for a kiss but pauses an inch away from Tony’s mouth. “I’m shit scared.”

“You’re doing the right thing,” Tony says, hands stroking over the back of Steve’s head.

"Why were you so against it before then?" Steve asks, curious.

Tony closes the gap between them, gentle and soft. "Because I was worried you were making a call you didn't want. I worried that you were going to resent him for making you give up that part of your life. I didn't want you to give up part of you, because that's not what this is about."

"Said this before though," Steve says. "My mission is him, right now. He's part of me. More than Captain America is part of me."

Tony nods. His hands settle on Steve's waist like they belong there. Really, they do.

“And like you said, it’s only temporary.”

“That’s a point, you know how I feel about you spying on what I’m doing,” Steve frowns, straightening up.

Clearly not having any of it, Tony pulls Steve straight back down and cuts him off with a kiss. “ _Monitoring_ , Steve.

“Spying-”

“Oh hang on, can’t talk right now,” Tony says, fisting his hand in Steve’s shirt and hauling him further towards their bedroom. “Sex now, argument about monitoring later.”

“That’s my trick,” Steve says, but he can’t stop the smile, hands sliding onto Tony’s back as he steers them across the space.

“I learned from the best,” Tony says, and they stumble through the door. “Now you’ve got just under an hour to do your worst.”

“Challenge accepted,” Steve says, with a grin.

“I’m still calling you Captain,” Tony says matter of factly.

“I would argue if I genuinely thought I could stop you,” Steve says and before Tony can retort he cuts his words off with a kiss, kicking the door shut behind them.


	20. Chapter 20

 

“So. You ready for this?”

Steve shifts his weight from foot to foot, flexing his fingers and tipping his head from side to side. On the other side of the mats, Natasha is crouched down, fingers resting lightly against the floor and a slight smirk on her face. Between them, Bucky stands his ground and smiles grimly, tightening his grip on the shield and bending his knees slightly.

“Born ready,” he says, and over on the side of the gym Clint cackles with laughter, leaning back on his elbows and crossing one ankle over the other, looking vastly entertained.

“Go on Barnes! Kick their asses!”

“You are not helping,” Bucky calls back without taking his eyes off of Steve. “But yeah, I’m gonna.”

“So that’s how it is?” Steve asks with a grin.

“That’s how it is,” Bucky says with an answering smirk. There’s a moment in which everything is still and quiet, all three of them braced and ready, waiting to see who is going to be the first to move-

It’s Bucky. It’s always Bucky. Still, he moves so quickly it almost catches Steve off guard; a leap forwards and a violent swing upwards with the shield. Steve manages to duck but then Bucky is spinning around and kicking him hard in the knee, just in time to lift the shield and block an attack from Natasha.

Steve could drop Bucky relatively easily with Natasha’s help but he doesn’t; there’s nothing to be gained from him simply wiping Bucky out, seeing as their aim is to improve his hand to hand combat with the shield.

Though as he has to avoid another mean swing from Bucky’s left arm as he shoves Natasha back with the shield, he concedes Bucky’s learned a hell of a lot in the past ten days of training.

“Steve,” Natasha barks and he lunges forwards only for Bucky to block his swing with his arm while swinging the shield at Natasha. There’s a flurry of movement and Bucky is pressing Natasha backwards; she’s dodging most of the hits but Bucky isn’t letting up. He’s pulling his punches with her, Steve can tell, though he has no intentions of doing the same with Bucky.

Bucky deftly flips the shield from one hand and snatches it out of the air with the other, and the distraction gives him enough time to win a second of advantage; he’s about to swing it around and hit Natasha with it, but Steve is quicker. He springs up and grabs the shield with both hands; Bucky is only holding onto the edge instead of the straps and it allows Steve to wrench it from his grip and toss it aside.

Surprised, Bucky wheels around and then grunts as Natasha lands a knee square in the small of his back, and as he staggers Steve has him, grabbing his arm and slinging him to the floor, wrenching both arms up behind his back and pinning him down by kneeling between his shoulder blades.

“You suck,” Bucky pants into the mat as Clint snickers in the background. “You can’t train me with the shield by taking it off me.”

“Think you’ll find learning to keep it in your hand is part of the training,” Steve says with a wry smile, standing up and taking his knee out of Bucky’s back. “People will try and get it away from you. Holding it by the edge makes that easier for them.”

Natasha offers Bucky a hand, hauling him to his feet. Steve flips up the shield with his foot, catches it and hands it back to Bucky.

“Okay, lesson learned,” Bucky says, flipping the shield over and taking hold of it properly. “I’m feeling good hand to hand. You’re only beating me because you’re you.”

“He only beat you because he had Natasha,” Clint calls and Natasha blows him a kiss, before glancing slyly at Steve out of the corner of her eye.

“Alright Clint, you’re up,” Steve calls good-naturedly. He rubs at his arm, aching from where Bucky had pinned him earlier during a one-on-one session. Natasha seems mostly unhurt, though she’s balancing on one foot and rubbing at the other, so he decides she’s ready for a break. Not that he’ll tell her that; he’ll just hope she’ll be content to sit back and watch Clint and Bucky scrap it out for a while. She usually is.  

“Ultimate Frisbee round one coming up,” Clint says and pushes himself up. “Come on Barnes. Give it to me.”

“Save it for the bedroom, boys,” Natasha says and Clint and Bucky both fix her with withering glares. Steve just rolls his eyes and walks off the mats to grab a bottle of water out of the refrigerator that’s set into the wall by the lockers. Natasha appears at his elbow, reaching past him for a drink.

“How does Clint know how to throw your shield?” she asks, turning and leaning back against the wall.

Steve shrugs. “Angles and accuracy. He’s got the knack.”

“I suppose,” Natasha says, and tilts her chin back towards them. Steve shuts the refrigerator and leans back against it, watching as Clint spins on one foot and hurls the shield at Bucky; Bucky has to stretch high to grab it out of the air but he manages it, dropping down with the shield in both hands.

“One hand,” Steve calls over at him, and Bucky gives him the finger before flinging the shield back to Clint.  Clint catches it with one hand and Bucky promptly curses at him as well.

“Did you not contemplate handing over to Barton?” Natasha asks as they watch Clint say something to Bucky, swinging his arm in demonstration. Bucky is watching him intently, nodding as he listens.

“I did. Knew he wouldn’t go for it,” Steve shrugs. “He’s not exactly keen on anyone knowing he’s good with the shield. Besides, Buck’s been watching me since the get-go. If anyone’s got a chance of pulling this off it’s him.”

“Fair point,” Natasha says. “He’s doing well, considering he’s had all of ten days of training. Though he is a lot more aggressive than you. Hydra are going to think you’re in a hell of a bad mood when he hits them.”

Steve snorts, cracking the top off the water bottle and draining half of it. “I’m counting on it.”

“Don’t you want it to be you that takes them out this time?” Natasha asks sounding curious. “Especially seeing how big this all feels. Not that I have anything against Bucky leading the mission, but you know. Always thought it would be you.”

“I’m a Dad now,” Steve shrugs. “Priorities are all back to front.”

“You suit being a Dad,” Natasha says with a small, quiet smile. “You and Tony both.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Hey, I said you suit it, not that you were any good at it.”

Steve’s mouth falls open in a mixture of affront and amusement. It takes a moment but he falls on the finding-it-funny side of the line, laughing softly and nudging Natasha with his elbow. “You’re lucky I like you,” he says.

“You’re the lucky one,” Natasha says, and then she turns towards the gym doors. “Incoming.”

The doors slide open and Arto hurtles in, barefoot and with his hair sticking up all over the place, Bucky Bear clutched in one hand. He looks around and spots Steve, shrieking loudly and pelting across the floor towards him.

“Guys, take a break,” Steve calls to Clint and Bucky, and drops the water bottle to the floor so he can step forwards and snatch Arto up with both hands. “Hello, trouble.”

Arto laughs as Steve swings him up above his head and then brings him down, setting him on his hip. “Built a metal with a thing,” Arto enthuses. “Like this,” he expands, spreading his hands apart.

“A thing?” Steve asks, but his attention is drawn as Tony walks into the gym, phone held to his ear and, of all things, a newspaper tucked under his arm. 

“-wasn’t a direct quote, so you can’t be pissed at him for it,” Tony is saying. He waves at Steve and Natasha and heads over towards them, pressing the newspaper at Natasha as he joins them. “Well much more and we could sue them for harassment or breach of privacy, human rights and all that,” he continues to say into the phone. He mouths ‘ _Pepper_ ’ at Steve who nods, wincing. “Why didn’t I issue a statement? Because you always tell me not to because what was it you said? That I always make it worse whenever I open my mouth? No. I wanted to see where it was going to go – what? No I am not planning on – Pepper, that source was a Fox news source, are you kidding me right now. What? They’re saying we’re married?”

He catches Steve’s eye and Steve shakes his head violently. Natasha purses her lips to hide her smile, eyes still on the newspaper.

“Oh, secretly married. That’s probably why I know nothing about it. As far as I know we’re not married. Steve is shaking his head, so no. Neither of us think we’re married. Oh come on, that was a joke. Wait, will the board be happier if we do get married?”

Feeling slightly alarmed, Steve sends Tony a meaningful look, but Tony just flaps his hand at him, dismissive. Arto cackles and copies the motion, flapping his hand in Steve’s face.

“Okay. Steve is now looking like he needs to sit down, so I better go. Yes, I will talk to him. Yes, I will behave. Yes, I promise. Okay. Send my love to Happy. Yes.”

Tony hangs up and promptly reaches out, snags his fingers in the neck of Steve’s t-shirt and then drops his phone down the front of it. “You deal with that,” he says. “If it rings once more I’m going to do something drastic.”

“What am I supposed to do, answer it with my abs?” Steve asks. “Nat-

She’s already there, slipping her hand up the front of his shirt and extricating the phone. “If you wore shirts that fit you properly it would have dropped straight out the bottom,” she points out.

“Don’t tell him that,” Tony says. “Heaven forbid he starts wearing shirts that actually fit him.”

Steve just ignores him and crouches down to set Arto on the floor. Arto immediately skips away towards Clint, throwing Bucky Bear into the air with much enthusiasm, catching him on the way down.

“So what’s with the newspaper?” Steve asks.

“Page three,” Tony says and Natasha opens it up and then smiles grimly. Steve looks over and sighs as he reads the headline. _“Fatherhood taking its toll on Captain America – American hero lashes out at journalists in Manhattan.”_ Just below, there’s a picture of him with Arto held protectively on his side, and he looks harried and annoyed. He knows exactly when the picture was taken; the day before, when they’d decided to take Arto out for the afternoon. More precisely, it’s between the moment he’d asked the reporter to get out of his way as he’d tried to leave the coffee shop, and the moment where he’d lost his cool and told the reporter to get the hell out of his face before he really lost his temper. Tony is just visible in the picture, standing behind Steve. He looks relatively calm, head dipped and expression obscured by sunglasses.

“Damn,” he says. “I’m sorry.”

Tony just shrugs. “Don’t sweat it,” he says. “They deserved it.”

Natasha raises an eyebrow, presses the paper to Steve’s chest. “Captain America should know better,” she says with an apologetic twist to her mouth, before walking off towards Clint, Bucky and Arto.

“Steve, I’m serious,” Tony says, scowling after Natasha before pulling the newspaper away from him, tossing it aside. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I shouldn’t have lost my cool. I know the impact on you and Stark Industries when there’s bad press, and Pepper-”

Tony leans in and kisses him, shutting him up pretty effectively. “We were taking our son out for a walk and we got jumped by the press. Anyone would lose their cool. We can spin it, easy. Everyone loves you. We release a sort of apology for you using the word hell, explain the pressure and the shit we’re getting from the press and voila. Public will side with us and we will be left alone.”

Steve breathes out steadily. “Think this is all getting to me,” he admits, looking unconsciously over to where Bucky is sitting, the shield propped up against his raised knees as he laughs at Arto and Clint who are clowning around on the mats, tossing Bucky Bear from one to another.

Tony glances over as well. “Think they’d notice if I dragged you upstairs for an hour or two?”

Steve laughs and wraps his arms around Tony, pulling him in. Tony goes willingly, even though Steve is sticky and sweaty from spending the morning sparring. “I don’t know,” he says. “We could ask Clint-”

The soft chiming of the Avengers emergency alert brings both words and thoughts crashing to a halt. He turns automatically, eyes finding Tony’s and the words ready on his mouth-

“Well, fuck.”

Bucky’s curse from across the room hits Steve like a punch, because with a jolt he realizes that he’s not going to be the one to say it. He’s not Captain America anymore. Bucky looks to him, a question in his expression. Steve’s throat goes tight but he jerks his chin in the barest of nods.

“Barnes, acknowledging,” he says, and his voice is clear and unwavering.

“More trouble in Europe,” Nick Fury’s voice says. “Barnes, we think it’s Hydra.”

And that’s another blow to his gut, Fury addressing Bucky directly like Steve’s not even there. Well, he might as well not be, considering.

“Go,” he hears Clint murmur, and he looks up just in time to see Arto barreling towards him, mouth screwed up tightly. He reflexively stoops low to scoop Arto up, holding him close. Tony moves closer as well, pressing his shoulder to Steve’s.

“Alright. How serious?” Bucky asks and Steve can’t look away, can’t stop watching him. Even though it’s not exactly easy to stand there on the sideline, he knows he’s made the right choice; Bucky looks calm, collected and ready.

“Moderate. A jet is on standby to collect you in twenty minutes, sending you what information we have now.”

“Acknowledged,” Bucky says, and the call cuts out. He breathes out and then walks over to where his phone and water bottle are resting on the canvas of the boxing ring. He leans over into the ring and grabs his phone, efficiently swiping through menus, eyes darting back and forth as he reads.

“Barton,” he says slowly as he reads. “Suit up. I’m taking you.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Clint says, clambering to his feet. He blinks almost in realization at what he’s said a few seconds later, and grimaces across at Steve, mouthing ‘ _sorry_.’ Steve waves it off and Clint nods in thanks as he turns away.

“Take your compound bow,” Bucky calls to him as he’s walking away. Clint turns with eyebrows raised, continuing to step backwards.

“Designated sniper for the mission?”

“Designated sniper,” Bucky confirms, and then looks up. “Nat, you’re coming as well. Jarvis, tell Thor he’s up. We meet up top in fifteen minutes.”

“Certainly, Captain Barnes,” Jarvis replies.

Natasha just nods. She leans over to whisper something in Bucky’s ear; he thinks hard for a moment and then shakes his head. She accepts his response, gently touching his cheek before walking out of the gym.

Steve watches her go, feeling hollow. He has no idea what she said to Bucky, if it were something about the mission or just about something innocuous, but the point is that he doesn’t know, and he’s not going to be told.

And that’s on top of Jarvis and Clint both calling Bucky _Captain_.

He unconsciously holds Arto a little bit closer, pressing his nose into the hair on the side of his head. Arto shifts restlessly in Steve’s arms, fingers plucking at the collar of his t-shirt. “Are you going?” he whispers, uncertain.

“No,” Steve murmurs back. “I’m staying here with you. So is Tony.”

Arto makes a contented sound in the back of his throat. “Clint?”

“No, Clint is going with Bucky to fight the bad guys.”

“But you’re staying.”

“Yes, I’m staying,” Steve says. “You gonna get down?”

“Nah,” Arto says, burrowing in closer, face pressed to Steve’s chest. “I stay here.”

Steve doesn’t argue, and to be honest he doesn’t really want to. Having Arto close is reminding him of why he made this choice, of why it’s important for him to stay behind. Humming softly, he hitches Arto up, stroking his fingers over the back of his head.

“Okay?” Tony murmurs at his side, and Steve makes himself nod even though he’s not entirely sure. He’s guesses that Tony can tell that he’s not handling this entirely well, but Tony obviously has been listening to him lately because he doesn’t say anything, just slips an arm behind Steve, hooking his thumb into the waistband of his shorts.

“Can you take Art while I just-” he replies, jerking his chin over at Bucky. Tony is immediately there, taking Arto and shushing him as he whines into his shoulder.

Steve walks over to Bucky, watching as he runs his hand through his hair and breathes out deeply. He looks up, folding his arms across his chest and, drumming his metal fingers against his elbow in a nervous tell that he’s willing to have most people mistake for impatience or boredom.

Bucky doesn’t waste time pussyfooting around the issue. “Am I going as Agent Barnes, Winter Soldier or Captain America?”

Steve doesn’t hesitate, because this moment has been looming since he asked Bucky to take over for him, and he needs to get it done even though it hurts to say. “Captain America.”

“You think I’ve had enough-” Bucky begins, and then glances over at Tony and stops himself.

“Remember what I showed you. Keep the shield close if you’re not sure,” Steve says, filling in the gaps without Bucky having to say it.  Bucky blows out a breath and nods, collecting himself and drawing on the strength that Steve has always admired and, on several occasions, relied on.

“Stark,” Bucky calls, clear. “The suit ready to go?”

“Yes, it’s in the workshop,” Tony says, trying to sit Arto up in his arms as he slumps backwards, arms dangling at his sides. “I didn’t want to risk being stabbed if I set a foot in your room so I left it there.”

Bucky snorts. “Possibly not the worst thing that’d happen if you went in my room,” he says. “You gonna let me in?”

Tony gives up on Arto and simply puts him down. Arto stares at him in affront and shoves at his legs, and then when Tony just steps back out of range, he sits on the floor with his hands clamped over his ears, scowling. Tony sighs and then just shakes his head, turning his attention to Bucky instead.

“Tony,” Arto pouts, somehow drawing the word out into double the amount of syllables it should have.

Tony ignores him and carries on talking to Bucky. “If you promise not to break anything I’ll take you down and get you fitted up,” he says. Down at floor level, Arto shuffles across and pushes at Tony’s shins with one of his feet, rather more forcefully than Steve’s happy with.

“Arto,” he calls in warning, and Arto scowls. “Get here.”

Arto shakes his head but complies, scrambling across the floor on his hands and knees, headbutting into Steve’s legs and whining. Not wanting a scene, Steve bends down to pick him up.

“I won’t break anything,” Bucky is saying, rolling his eyes.

“Alright then, get moving Terminator,” Tony says, gesturing towards the doors. “Let’s go and dress you up like my boyfriend.”

The look Bucky sends Tony is full of so much withering disgust that Steve has to bite back a laugh. “Don’t ever say that to me again,” Bucky says in warning.

“Hey, if it helps balance it out I’ll put on a purple shirt so I’m dressed up like your boyfriend.”

Arto lifts his head from Steve shoulder, suddenly alert. “What?”

“Nothing,” Steve says, at the same time Bucky very deliberately points at Tony and says, “fuck off.”

“Does Bucky has a boyfriend?” Arto demands, pulling at the neck of Steve’s shirt. Steve grabs for his wrist, watching Tony and Bucky step out of the gym, still treading a very fine line between bantering and threatening. The gym doors slide smoothly closed and Steve hopes that Bucky doesn’t even up throttling Tony; killing Iron Man would not go down well as his first action as Captain America.

“Steve! Why does Bucky have a boyfriend?” Arto asks, pressing his palms to Steve’s cheeks and turning his face around. “Is Bucky has a boyfriend?”

“You want the honest answer?” Steve asks him, and Arto nods vigorously.

“I have no idea.”

Arto leans back, looking put out. “That’s not helpful,” he says, and Steve can’t help but laugh, pulling him close and pressing a kiss to Arto’s cheek, even as he whines and mutters ‘gross,’ pushing at Steve’s head with his hands.

“You’re gross,” Steve says affectionately, and Arto grins and leans in and kisses him.

“No, pink lines are gross,” he says. “Barton says so.”

“Barton is a dirty liar,” Steve says and Arto cackles.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

“Pants on fire,” Steve agrees solemnly. He breathes out slowly, steadily, hitching Arto up and fighting against the not inconsiderable parts of him that want to be suiting up, to be doing _something._

He thinks back to the not-too-distant past, when he was the one suiting up and leaving Arto behind. Twice he’d done that – twice – and it had taken advice from Natasha, an intervention from Bucky and an ass kicking from Tony to get his head straight.

“Hey Steve,” Arto says, sitting up and patting his hands against Steve’s shoulders in a not quite rhythm. Steve turns his face to him and the doubt fades as he looks over the small face close to his, the mirror of his own features.

“Mmm?”

“How fast can a shark swim?”

Steve blows out a breath. “Not as fast as me,” he says, and Arto cackles.

“Can we swim? Let’s go and swim.”

“Maybe later,” Steve says. “Got to see Bucky and the others off first.”

Arto looks at him slyly. “Just ‘cause you’re not as fast as a shark.”

Steve laughs. “You are not allowed to hang out with Clint anymore. You’re becoming a smartass. 

Arto grins. “Bucky says I am all you,” he says, and prods Steve with a finger to prove his point.

“All me, huh?” Steve says, and he can’t help but smile, fiercely proud of Arto in a way he never thought he would be, the feeling welling up stronger than the uncertainty and despondency that lurks as a result of stepping down and being left behind. “Guess I can live with that.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

The whining and thudding of the engines reverberates in Steve’s chest, a dull humming that has him aching for the feel of the shield in his hand. Arto is leaning back against his legs, both hands lifted and holding onto Steve’s own, swaying back and forth slightly. His grip is tighter than it usually is, and Steve remembers Arto’s memory of him climbing onto the very same jet. 

“You come to wave goodbye, Short Round?”

Arto twists around at the sound of Clint’s voice, reaching out with one hand. Fully suited up and with his bow in hand, Clint steps over and crouches so he can lift Arto up with his free arm, holding him to his front and leaning back slightly so he can see him properly.

“Stay here,” Arto says, pleading. “Clint.”

“I can’t, I gotta go shoot bad guys,” Clint says with a crooked smile. “Be back before you know it.”

Arto shakes his head. “Stay. Bucky can shoot bad guys.”

Clint grins. “You know, he probably can,” he agrees. “But he needs someone to look after him. Tell you what, you stay and look after Steve and I’ll go and look after Bucky.”

Arto doesn’t reply, but leans back and reaches for Steve. Steve takes him back, cradling him in his arms like a baby and leaning down to blow a raspberry against his face. Arto shrieks with laughter, kicking out with his feet.

“Steve.”

Steve looks up at Clint’s gentle murmur of his name and his heart stops. Tony is stepping out onto the roof, and with him are Thor, Natasha and Bucky.

Bucky is fully suited up except for the cowl, and the shield is held in his left hand, gleaming in the sunlight. He looks good in the suit, at ease and confident in a way he rarely shows, standing straight and tall. He’s always been determined, but this time it looks different. He looks authoritative, the type of man people would follow into any danger. It’s a good look on him.

“No, that’s _yours_.”

Arto’s distressed voice breaks the moment. He struggles and kicks and Steve lifts him upright.

“I’m staying with you,” Steve says. “So Bucky is being Captain America. He’s going to go and protect people.”

Arto still looks distressed and fuck, Steve didn’t think about how this might affect him, how Arto might react to seeing Bucky in the uniform that is supposed to be his. God, Arto was always fascinated with the star on Steve’s uniform, even from the very beginning, and now someone else is wearing it. Talk about uncertainty and confusion.

Arto kicks out, and Steve obeys the wordless request and puts him down. He holds onto Steve’s pant leg for a moment and then lets go, edging forwards step by shuffling step.

Bucky seems to be waiting for it. He crouches down, eyes on Arto, shifting on the balls of his feet. Arto darts across to Tony and locks his fingers in the denim of his jeans, eyes still glued on Bucky.

“Hey, Short Round,” Bucky says clearly. “I’m just borrowing this so your dad can stay with you. That okay?

One hand still fisted in the knee of Tony’s jeans, Arto reaches out, tentative and unsure. He touches the edge of the shield and then shuffles forwards even more, touching Bucky’s shoulder. Bucky leans back slightly and Arto reaches towards the star on his chest but pulls his hand back.

“But Steve is star,” Arto says, voice very small.

“I know,” Bucky says. “But the world needs Captain America, kiddo. And right now, Steve doesn’t want to be Captain America, because he wants to stay with you. So he asked me to go out and be the star this time.”

Bucky’s voice is kinder and gentler that Steve thinks he’s ever heard it, and it brings a lump to his throat. He folds his arms tightly across his chest, fighting down the emotions. Even if he’s finding this hard himself, he needs to stay strong for Arto, who is clearly struggling with the transition.

Steve watches as Tony crouches down and makes a show of whispering something into Arto’s ear. Steve has no idea what he says but Arto leans back and then smiles, nodding vigorously before clambering onto Tony’s knee.

Tony hefts him up, wincing as Arto scrambles up to sit on his shoulders, kneeing him in the chest as he does. Steve would be worried about the arc-reactor, but he knows from experience it can take a lot more damage than that. Besides, he’s got something else to deal with right now.

“Look at you, all grown up,” he says as Bucky steps up next to him, looking somewhere between pleased and uncertain.

“Shut up,” Bucky grouches, rubbing the back of his head. “I just wanna know why you need so many buckles and pockets on this damn thing.”

“He fills them full of snacks,” Clint says as he passes behind them, heading towards the jet. “Come on, Bucky-Cap.”

“Stop calling me Bucky-Cap!” Bucky shouts after him and sends Steve an exasperated look.

“Yeah, I bet it feels different now you’re the idiot in charge of making sure all the other idiots behave,” Steve says pointedly, and Bucky winces.

“Amazing what a little perspective does,” he agrees, and then frowns towards the jet. “Barton, you better be picking a seat and strapping yourself in!”

Thor’s deep chuckle draws Steve’s attention, even as Bucky turns away and marches towards the jet, still yelling back at Clint.

“I will support Bucky as best I can,” he says, clapping his hand onto Steve’s shoulder. “Though I think he has it all in hand. He is determined to do you proud.”

“Is already,” Steve says with a small smile. “I feel like a big brother here, watching him go off on his own.”

Thor nods, understanding. “I understand that feeling,” he agrees with a ghost of a smile.

“Keep him safe,” Steve says, and Thor snorts with laughter.

“Bucky can take care of himself,” he says. “Though I may spare some extra attention to ensure he does not worry unduly about Clint.”

Steve laughs. “Yeah, that’d be good,” he says, and punches Thor lightly on the shoulder. “Give them hell.”

Thor simply nods and heads off towards the jet, cape snapping in the breeze. Steve watches him duck inside, and doesn’t look away as he feels an arm link through his at the elbow.

“Well this mission will be ten times less fun if you’re not there for me to torment,” Natasha says.

“You’ve got Bucky and Clint to torment,” Steve replies. “They’ll keep you busy.”

“Oh no,” Natasha shakes her head, curls bouncing. “I’m onto the big game, baby. If I’m taking egos down I’m not wasting time with those two troublemakers. You or Stark, that’s the prize.”

“Thor is going too,” Steve points out. “Make a demeaning joke about his hammer and you’re all set.”

“You do take care of us,” Natasha says, and leans up to kiss his cheek. “I’ll miss you, but I’m glad you’re staying.”

“Thanks, Nat,” Steve says. “Look after the boys, please.”

“Going to strap Clint into his booster seat right now,” she replies. “Look after Solnishka.”

She turns to wave at Tony and Arto and then heads towards the jet. With her aboard, the back door is promptly closed and then with a roar of engines the jet is up and gone, and an odd yet calming sense of finality settles in Steve’s gut as he watches the jet vanish into the distance, leaving him and his family behind.

 

* * *

 

 “Tony,” Bruce’s gentle voice says. “Can you please stop?” 

Tony starts and looks up blinking, and when he sees both Bruce and Jane looking at him with matching amused yet exasperated expressions, he realizes that he’s been drumming the pen in his hand against the edge of the desk without noticing, again.

“Here,” Jane says, and pushes over her half-drunk mug of coffee. “Though I’m not sure more caffeine is what you need right now.”

“Of course it is,” Tony says as he reaches for the mug, and Jane smiles and then goes back to poring over her diagrams and data, tapping her pen against her mouth. “Why are you using pens anyway? Obsolete technology. 

“Go and invent me a new one then,” Jane says without looking up.

“I don’t need to, there is enough tech in this tower to mean you don’t have to write anything down with a pen.”

“Leave her pens alone, Tony,” Bruce says vaguely from where he’s examining data on a holoscreen. “Each to their own.”

“I suppose I’ll just have to accept our differences then, Foster. Except our taste in men. We both seem to have a thing for muscular blonds.”

Jane hums vaguely. “I have a thing for muscular blonds. You just have a thing for Steve.”

Tony tosses the pen at her. It bounces off of her shoulder and clatters on the polished floor of the lab. She doesn’t even blink.

“Speaking of Steve, where is he?” Bruce asks, sighing and swiping his hand across the screen to minimize all his work, rubbing at his forehead and then dropping into a chair. “How’s he holding up?”

“Okay,” Tony shrugs. “He’s got Arto, and Arto is being a pain. So he’s sufficiently distracted.”

“I still don’t believe a kid that adorable could be a pain,” Jane says. She drops her pen and reaches for a box of take-out noodles that’s perched precariously on top of a stack of books. It’s more than likely cold and past its best, but Jane seems to abide by the same take-out rules as Clint and doesn’t hesitate to dig in.

“Believe it,” Bruce says. “He’s a poster-child for attachment disorder.”

“How do you know that?” Tony asks, distracted.

Bruce shrugs. “Steve told Bucky told Clint told Natasha told me.”

“Well, at least you all know now,” Tony says. “He’s sulking because Clint isn’t here. Of all things. Steve literally gives up his life to stay with the kid and he sulks about Barton not being here.”

“Well how would he be behaving if Steve wasn’t here?” Bruce asks pointedly. “I think sulking is pretty good, considering.”

“Point conceded,” Tony sighs. he remembers all too well how Arto reacted last time Steve wasn’t here, and is vehemently grateful that he won’t have to see a repeat.

“How are _you_ holding up?” Jane asks. “I know I’m not here a lot, but you coming to bug other people when they are working seems kind of backwards.”

Tony laughs shortly at that. “Yeah,” he says without thinking about it. “I don’t know. Trusting Steve’s gonna hold it together. Not so happy about the press.”

“I saw the paper,” Jane says sympathetically. “He didn’t say anything that anyone would see as being outside of his right-”

“I know,” Tony says. “I told him that, but he still feels bad. And the board – they’re used to the special relationship me and the press have by now, but this whole family thing I’ve sprung on them seems to have completely knocked them. Don’t think they know whether to celebrate or run for the hills.”

“It’ll blow over,” Bruce says. “I mean, this isn’t exactly a story that’s ever going to go away, but it’ll simmer down.”

“Just gotta hope that both the super-soldiers can keep their cool until then,” Tony grimaces. “The press currently think Arto is the most adorable thing since Elmo. I’d hate to shatter the illusion when he starts calling them fucking shits.”

“Don’t take him out for a while then,” Jane suggests.

“Not an option,” Tony says regretfully. “Part of his therapy, inclusion-into-the-world package. Doc says he needs to get out.”

“Oh,” Jane says, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. “Better get the PR team at the ready then.”

Tony laughs, and then is distracted by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulls it out and sees it’s Reed Richards calling him. Leaving Jane and Bruce to it for a moment, he ducks out of the lab and takes the call in the corridor.

“Richards.”

“Hi, Tony,” Reed says and doesn’t waste any time on small talk. “Can you come and swing by the Baxter Building? I’ve got some data I want you to look at.”

“Come on Reed, you know that’s not how we do this,” Tony says, smiling despite himself. Working - and arguing - with Reed is a welcome moment of normalcy in what has been possibly the strangest and most stressful few weeks of his life.

Reed sighs, sounding frustrated. “Okay. Tony, I need your help.

“That’ll work,” Tony says, grinning. “Okay, data analysis?”

“Yes, and possibly someone to use as a sounding board. Believe it or not, Johnny is not as helpful as he thinks he is when it comes to science.”

Tony laughs. “Sure,” he says. “I’ll check I’m not needed here and then head over.”

“Thanks,” Reed says and then the call cuts out. Tony taps his phone thoughtfully against his mouth, wondering what it is that Reed can’t work out without any help-

Familiar footsteps draw his attention, and he turns with a tired smile to see Steve walking up, carrying Arto against his shoulder. Arto is fast asleep, an arm dangling freely at his side and his mouth slightly open. There’s a red scuff on his forehead, and Tony reaches out to gently touch the skin next to it.

“The bookcase won,” Steve says ruefully, voice low. “He did beat the coffee table though.”

“You should have sent for me,” Tony says, a sharp twist of something that’s unhappiness, panic and guilt all mashed into one twisting in his chest. “I didn’t know he was that wound up-”

“Was mostly show,” Steve says, calm and reassuring. “Though I’m not sure how I could have given him any more attention at that point.”

“Never said he was a logical creature,” Tony sighs, and then jerks his head towards the lab. “You wanna come join us? I’m sure we can allow one fratboy into the science department.”

Steve’s mouth twitches faintly, but there’s still something troubled and distant in his expression that Tony wishes he could get rid of.

“You sure you’re okay?” Tony asks, not remotely bothered by the flat look Steve sends him. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m double checking, it’s not every day you decide to suit up your cyborg sidekick and send him around the world pretending to be you-”

Steve shuts him up by reaching for him with his free hand, cupping the back of Tony’s head and pulling him for a kiss. Tony’s eyes flutter closed, but then he jerks back with a scowl.

“Stop it, I’m just worried you’re doing that thing where you don’t talk-”

Steve very deliberately and pointedly kisses him again and Tony admits defeat, sighing and slumping a little in Steve’s grip

“Dirty trick. Appalled,” he mumbles against Steve’s mouth and Steve leans back.

“I am fine,” Steve murmurs, thumb stroking down Tony’s cheek. Tony huffs and loops his arm around Steve’s waist, pulling him in as close as he can without disturbing Arto.

“You have been known to be a dirty liar,” Tony tells him, and Steve pulls a face.

“I’m only slightly lying,” he says. “I’m as okay as I can be.”

Tony takes that as a win, because he knows exactly how that feels and besides, Steve even admitting as much is good enough for him. God, he just wishes he could fix everything for Steve and Arto. He’d literally give the world to be able to make everything okay, to take away anything that would hurt them

But he can’t, so he knows he’ll just have to settle for doing his best.

He nudges Steve into the lab, the door closing behind them with a soft hiss. “Hey Steve,” Jane calls, and then presses her hand to her mouth, wincing. “Sorry,” he mouths apologetically.

“You’re okay, he’s probably not gonna wake up unless I actually wake him up,” Steve says. Bruce pulls out a chair for him and pushes it over between Tony and Jane; Steve nods gratefully and sinks into it, rearranging Arto as he does.

“So have you heard from Bucky yet?” Jane asks, and Steve’s mouth twists.

“Once,” he says, sounding like he’s stalling

“Steve?"

“Bastard told me he’d court-martial me if I rang him again,” Steve grudgingly admits, and Tony and Jane both smother down laughter. Bruce has slightly better control than the pair and just smiles

“Well, you did give him authority as Captain America,” he says, and Steve groans, covering his eyes.

“I know, I know. I just feel utterly useless sitting here.

“You’re not useless,” Jane says absent-mindedly patting his elbow as she looks over the diagrams in front of her

“What she said,” Tony agrees, mouth twitching. Steve sends him a flat look and Tony puts down his mug of coffee and turns so he can sit up on the desk. Steve fixes him with a questioning look, and Tony answers as he leans over to put a hand on Steve’s head, pulling him around so Steve can rest his temple against his side, tucked in under his arm. Steve must be more stressed than he’s letting on, because he allows it and simply sinks into Tony’s side. Bruce doesn't bat an eyelid, and all Jane does it glance at them and smile without comment.

“If anyone gets hurt-” Steve begins.

“Nu-uh,” Tony says, running his fingers through Steve’s hair. “No going there. You blame yourself for anything that does or does not happen on this mission and you will be sleeping on the couch for a week.”

“Oh yes, an already stressed Steve Rogers after a week with no proper sleep? That’s not one of your better ideas, Tony,” Bruce calls.

“Whose side are you even on?” Tony asks indignantly, though when he looks down Steve is smiling. Weakly and tiredly, but he’s smiling.

“Thor will make sure no-one does anything too stupid,” Jane says, finally looking up from her work. 

“Bucky has a lot to prove,” Bruce adds. “He’s not about to mess this up, Steve.

“He doesn’t have anything to prove,” Steve begins with a frown.

“To himself, he does,” Tony interjects. “And like it or not, he’ll want to prove himself to you.”

Steve sighs, drumming his fingers against his knee and looking unconvinced. “I just know Hydra are up to something,” he says. “This is big.”

“Aren’t Hydra always up to something?” Jane asks.

“She has a point,” Tony says, smoothing Steve’s hair back off his forehead with his palm. “How many times have we gone against them in the past few years?”

“This is different,” Steve says. “I know it is. The whole thing with hiding behind AIM, the fact they’re messing around with trying to recreate Rebirth.”

“And the missing scientists that no-one has found,” Bruce adds.

“We know,” Tony says. “And we are doing everything to beat them. Just because you’re taking a break doesn’t mean the rest of the team-”

“I know,” Steve interjects with a sigh. “It’s just hard.”

“Is this where I make up for the fact Natasha and Barton are gone by saying ‘that’s what she said’?” Bruce says, and everyone laughs.

“And on that note,” Tony laughs. “Steve, I’ve been invited to go and play with data at the Baxter building. Alright with you if I go for a couple of hours?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Steve says. He heaves out a sigh, back rising and falling and rubs at his face. When he sits up he seems calmer, and wow if he’s actually listened to them and has dialed down the stressing then Tony is going to declare this day a national holiday.

“You sure?”

“Go,” Steve says firmly. “Don’t get ambushed by Fox news on the way.”

“Sir yes sir,” Tony says, and he slides off the bench, pressing a kiss to the top of Arto's head and then one to Steve’s cheek, smirking as Steve bats him away. “I’ll see you later.”

He decides to walk the short distance to the Baxter Building even though he knows Steve is right, and he’ll potentially be running the gauntlet of paparazzi and reporters. He’s under strict orders from both his actual PR rep and Pepper to not answer any questions from reporters unless they are a part of a planned conference or interview, and whilst Tony can handle a few wayward story hunters he really doesn’t want to piss Pepper off considering how supportive she’s being.

Though if anyone from Fox news gets within ten feet of him, he’s going to tell them exactly what he thinks about their coverage of them, and the things they’ve been saying about Steve. He doesn’t care a bit about what they say about him; he’s grown up in the public eye and there’s always been someone somewhere who’s had something bad to say about him. But Steve, though. Even if Steve isn’t as wholesome and perfect as some people like to make out, he’s still so good, and he doesn’t deserve the slander. Especially not when he’s making huge sacrifices for both Tony and Arto.

Luckily, he arrives without incident, though if he’s been spotted by photographers he won’t know until the pictures hit the internet anyway. He’s stepping into the lobby when his phone rings.

“Afternoon.”

“Where are you?” Reed asks without preamble.

“I’m about to get in your elevator,” Tony says, jabbing at the button with his finger and watching impatiently as the button lights up. “This thing is ancient, it’s a travesty.”

“Come straight to the lab,” Reed says and hangs up without another word. The elevator arrives and Tony steps in, drumming his fingers against the metal bar that is fixed at waist height. He already wants to go back to Steve and Arto; he’s not been away from both of them since Arto arrived and it feels strange. Though the prospect of getting involved with Reed’s current science project is pretty exciting, he can’t deny that much.

The lab is most definitely the best part of the Baxter Building. As Tony steps in, he’s immediately taken back to the day that Arto arrived, remembering Clint carrying Arto out wrapped up in a filthy blanket, remembering the moment he kissed Steve in front of everyone for the first time.

Everything changed here, really.

“Tony!”

Reed appears, stepping out of the portal chamber itself and waving at him to come down. “Come on, I need you to look at this.”

“Whoa, shouldn’t you buy me dinner before we rush straight into data?” Tony asks, though does comply and walks over, hands in his pockets.

“Sorry, sorry,” Reed says. “I’m just at a key point-”

“You are always at a key point in something or other,” Tony says dismissively, looking around. “What are we working on? Please tell me it’s the portal chamber.”

“It is the portal chamber,” Reed says, and Tony rocks back and forth happily on his feet. “Though you’re not pulling it apart, I just need you to look at the data from the last run of testing.”

Tony hums, dropping into one of the chairs at the computer terminal. “And then can I pull it apart?”

“No, Tony,” Reed says. “No pulling apart my machines.”

“You’re no fun,” Tony says, swiping his fingers across the screen in front of him. “Right, talk me through this.”

“Okay, well the chamber is configured so we can send and receive communications between dimensions, as you know,” Reed says. “But I don’t seem to be able to open any portals to other dimensions-”

“I have a small Rogers at home that is proof that that’s not true.”

“Let me finish,” Reed says impatiently. “I can open a portal if I’ve received a communication from another dimension first. Then I can lock the signal so to speak-”

“But you can’t open up a portal until you have the signal,” Tony says.

“I don’t think so,” Reed says. “Unless there’s any anomalies in that data.”

“You know you’re not strictly allowed to be opening portals from other dimensions?” Tony asks.

“I won’t, I just want to be able to,” Reed insists, and then he narrows his eyes slightly. “You have been spending too much time with Cap.”

Tony snorts. “There is a joke in there about him rubbing off on me, I know there is. His sense of responsibility can’t exactly be passed through unprotected sex, you know. If it could, I wouldn’t even be looking at your data.”

“Oh god, Tony,” Reed complains. “Do you have to?”

“No, but I kinda wanted to,” Tony says with a winning smile. “Besides, Steve wouldn’t give a fuck what you’re doing here, as long as you stay safe and don’t start any wars or anything.”

“Well let’s not test that by letting him know.”

“Not lying to him,” Tony says immediately. “He asks, I’ll spill.”

Reed sighs, apparently conceding the point. He walks back towards the portal chamber, eyeing the exterior thoughtfully. “Where are the days you put science first?”

“One, I am here and I am helping with your borderline illegal portal chamber, two, I am now a sensible family man who cannot afford to piss off his partner or child seeing as they are both super soldiers.”

“You make a convincing argument,” Reed says, stepping into the chamber. “Check that data.”

Tony grins and twirls the chair back towards the screen. He’s soon lost in data, quickly processing through the reams and reams that Reed has accumulated. It’s not difficult for him, though it is time consuming.

He easily loses track of time when getting involved with projects like this, so when his phone buzzes in his pocket and breaks his concentration, it’s a surprise to find that he’s already been at it for over an hour.

Tony pulls his phone out of his pocket and thumbs the message open; he laughs softly as he sees a picture of Arto, grinning and showing paint-covered palms to the camera. He doesn’t know where Steve got poster-paint from; either Clint brought it back in his initial haul of goodies, or Steve’s finally caved and paid someone to bring it to the tower.

“You better not be laughing about my data,” Reed calls from inside the chamber, voice oddly muffled considering the door is open.

“My child is adorable,” Tony announces. “Come and see this.”

Reed’s head appears in the doorway of the chamber, expression weary. “We are working.”

“Just because your kids aren’t as adorable as mine.”

Reed’s head retreats again. “I don’t know why I’m surprised that you’re turning fatherhood into a competition. I should have expected that much.”

“No competition,” Tony says as he texts Steve back. “It’s true. Fact. I can probably prove it with science.”

_‘How much paint is on the rest of everything?’_

“You are meant to be helping me prove that inter-dimensional travel can be fully stabilized, not proving that your kid is cuter than mine. And by the way, he’s Steve’s kid, not yours. 

Tony frowns. “Words hurt, Richards.”

“I just meant genetics,” Reed says like it’s obvious. “Which means you can’t actually claim credit for him being adorable.”

“I never tried to claim credit, I just wanted it proven true.”

His phone buzzes again and this time he laughs outright at the picture he’s been sent; a selfie of Steve who has a bright blue smudged handprint on his jaw, and flecks of green in his hair. He’s smiling ruefully; behind him Arto is just about visible, sprawled over the counter and in the process of smearing paint over a huge sheet of craft paper. He can see half of Jane in the background as well, talking to someone who isn’t in the shot and waving a tablet around.

“Tony,” Reed calls, impatient. “Data.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tony sighs and drops his phone onto the workbench next to him, because when all is said and done he is interested in the data and what they’re working with here, even if at the moment he’s possibly rather be at the paint party and nosing in on what Jane and Bruce are doing.

He settles back into work, wishing Steve were in the vicinity so he could bribe him into bringing him coffee. “You ever manage to replicate the power source for this baby?” he asks absently as he swipes through another screen of readings.

“No,” Reed admits grudgingly. “I’ve managed to identify eighty percent of its molecular make-up, but not all of it. I did suggest we return to the asteroid belt to search for a similar source.”

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Is this the same asteroid belt that nearly killed you last time you went?”

“Well, the hostile alien forces may have had something to do with it, so I wouldn’t technically blame it on the asteroids. We could probably go again and not get as much as a scratch.”

“Well by all means, off you go then,” Tony says vaguely, back to the data. “Reed, I hate to break this to you but there is no data here that shows that any of your wrangling is working. Still only getting any solid connections from where first contact has come from outside of our dimension.”

“Damn,” Reed curses. “Frustrating.”

“Tell me about it,” Tony says. “Because that means a me or a you in another dimension has already worked out how to get it to work both ways.”

“A you?” Reed backs out of the chamber, looking skeptical.

“Yes, a me. Why did you say it like that?”

“Well, this isn’t exactly your area of expertise.”

“It could be, if you let me look at the magical marble that’s running it-”

“No, because you’d only find some way of turning it into a power source for more machinery.”

“Lies and slander.”

The debate or argument is cut short as his phone buzzes again, this time with a call. The caller ID shows Steve, so Tony flips it open immediately, stomach lurching and hoping there’s no bad news. Arto had seemed happy enough playing with paint a moment ago, but Tony knows all that it takes is a moment.

“Still in one piece?”

“Yes, we’re fine. Wide awake and done with painting and now someone wants to go outside, and I possibly said that he could,” Steve says, sounding a little harried. “Can we walk over to you?”

Tony hears a yell and a crash in the background and winces. Steve groans, and Tony hears Arto’s guilty sounding voice in the background.

“Steve? Sorry, Steve. Steve, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to.”

“I know,” Steve says to Arto, voice going slightly quieter as he turns away from the phone. “Go and pick it up then get your shoes.”

There’s an excited yell and then Steve calling out, sounding exasperated. “No, pick it up first – Arto! Damn.” He exhales heavily and then his attention turns back to the conversation with Tony. “I know bringing him into anywhere with anything breakable in might not be the best plan right now, but I need to get out of this tower before I lose my mind.”

And Steve conceding that much is a big deal, and Tony knows it. He’s only got one objection.

“What if the press catch you?”

“Then I will politely say ‘no comment’ and smile charmingly.”

“What if Arto isn’t in the mood for smiling charmingly?”

“I’ll keep a lid on him,” Steve says, sounding determined. “He’s likely to meltdown if don’t bring him out, and I’d rather upset the press than him. Besides, aren’t we meant to have high expectations? I’ll tell him to behave, see how that goes down.”

“Alright, alright. On your head be it.” Tony says, and then the call cuts out.

“Hey Reed-”

“I heard,” Reed says before Tony can say anything. “Your super soldier breaks anything and you’re paying for it.”

“Ye of little faith,” Tony says, pushing himself up out of his chair and wandering over to the chamber. “I see you managed to clear up all the puke.”

“That’s last time I let Barnes in here,” Reed says. He’s in the corner, kneeling down to access a panel in the back. There’s a faint orange-pink light glowing from it, and Tony very badly wants to have a wrench and access to this this for an hour or two.

“So that’s the magic marble,” Tony says as he steps over, peering over Reed’s shoulder.

“No, Tony.”

“I’m not touching anything!” Tony insists. “I’m just looking.”

“Go away,” Reed says. “I know you too well.”

“The next time you want help, call someone else.”

“You think Banner would be interested? I didn’t call him because I didn’t think this would be his area of interest.”

Tony throws his hands up in the air. “Oh, that’s how it is.”

“Tony. Data.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”

This time around he’s got his mind half on the data and half thinking about Steve and Arto. Steve has sounded pretty stressed as he’d called, and maybe it wasn’t Tony’s brightest idea to leave Steve to single handed look after Arto, especially not when he’s just been left behind by the team. But Steve had insisted he was fine and Tony had believed him, and he reckons if he’d hovered or fussed any more Steve would have gotten pretty sharp with him pretty quickly.

Vaguely, Tony concedes that this would be about the time he’d normally lure Steve into bed and distract him from everything for a couple of hours. Though with Clint and Bucky gone that’s not really an option, unless they get creative when Arto has gone to bed.

It’s half an hour later when Steve and Arto finally show; in quick succession Tony hears the hum of the elevator, Steve’s deep voice and a familiar excited chirping. Warmth blooming in his chest, he pushes back from the computer terminal and spins the chair so he’s facing the elevator on the upper level.

“Hello super-soldiers,” he calls, and get an excited shriek back in return. Steve and Arto appear, Steve with his fingers snagged firmly in the back of Arto’s paint covered T-shirt. Aside from that and a hefty smudge of bright pink that’s matted into his hair, Arto looks relatively clean. He is practically vibrating with excitement though, straining forwards against Steve’s grip and staring around the room with wide eyes.

“Hey,” Steve calls. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“Afternoon, Steve,” Reed calls with a smile. “Hello, Arto.”

Arto utterly ignores Reed, busy with sensing Steve a beseeching look and trying to twist free from his grip. “Ste-eve,” he whines, slumping forwards dejectedly and nearly headbutting the railings

“We need a backpack leash for that thing,” Tony laughs, and beckons for Steve to come down.

“Like he wouldn’t snap it with one decent tug,” Steve snorts. “Arto, get up.”

“Adamantium backpack leash?” Tony suggests, watching as Arto pouts and pushes himself upright.

Steve’s mouth quirks in a rueful smile. “Now you’re talking.”

“He’s not allowed to touch anything in here,” Reed calls over, walking over to stand behind Tony and peer down at the data he’s been playing with. “And I’d really prefer he not go anywhere near the chamber.”

“You hear that?” Steve says to Arto. “No touching. Or I take you home.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Arto says promptly. “Let me go now?”

Steve looks down at Tony who shrugs. He’d personally choose to trust Arto and hope that he didn’t touch anything, but Steve has been with him for the past couple of hours and better knows how compliant Arto is being, so it’s going to have to be his call.

Steve sighs and then lets go of Arto’s shirt. Arto lets out a happy chirp and then he’s scrambling for the stairs, running down and over to Tony, leaping up at him and sending the chair rocking back across the floor a few inches. Steve follows him down, still looking as if he can’t decide if this is a good idea or not.

“I’m liking the pink,” Tony says seriously, and Arto grins and touches his fingers to his hair before sliding off of Tony’s knee and crawling around the desk, humming as he goes.

Reed watches him, expression pained. “Tony-”

“He won’t touch anything,” Tony assures him. “Will you Art?”

“Nope,” Arto yells back, scampering across the floor to hide behind something else.

“There you go. Have faith in the spawn of Captain America,” Tony says, grinning as Steve swats at the back of his head.

“How you getting on?” Steve asks, eyes still tracking Arto’s progress across the room.

“Not great,” Tony says. “Parallel dimensions are tricky.”

“I assumed that’s what you would be messing around with,” he says. “You broken your portal chamber, Reed?”

“No, I’m just trying to configure some settings,” Reed says evasively. Steve meets Tony’s eyes with a raised brow and Tony just flaps a dismissive hand at him, mouthing ‘ _I’ll tell you later.’_

Seemingly appeased, Steve looks around the lab and then steps towards the portal chamber, looking interested. “It’s a hell of a thing,” he says cautiously. “You had any more contact?”

“No, not since the last mission,” Reed says, and Tony can tell that he’s struggling to not spill the beans with how excited he is about what he’s working on, but doesn't quite trust Steve to not come down on him if he does.

“We’re trying to work out how we can be the ones to open portals,” Tony says. “At the minute we can only open them if someone’s knocked from the other side first.”

Reed glares at Tony who just shrugs expansively back. Steve turns a thoughtful eye on the portal chamber. “Huh,” he says. “Interesting.”

Tony sends Reed an _‘I told you so’_ look, which Reed dutifully ignores. Tony grins to himself and glances over as he hears Arto humming to himself. He’s crouched on the floor by the huge holo-screen, flicking at a stray screw with a finger and watching it as it rolls around haphazardly on the floor.

“Yes, I know it can seem a bit…mad science, but I want to be prepared,” Reed says to Steve, who is still eyeing the chamber thoughtfully. “With the fact we’re getting messages and requests for help from alternative dimensions, it seems that our dimension is being earmarked as one ready for inter-dimensional travel, even if we don’t want to. I want to be prepared.”

“And you want to be able to say you can,” Steve remarks, and Tony stifles a laugh.

“We are all great men here,” Reed says. “And none of us got to be who were are by thinking ‘I can’t’.”

“It’s not so much the can’t, more the shouldn’t,” Steve says. “But I have to say, I agree with you. If other dimensions are drawing us into the fold, we should be as ready as we need to be to keep up. Or to match them in case-”

He stops talking as a loud beeping sound comes from one of the sensors. “What on Earth-?” Reed mutters, stretching out an arm to grab a tablet and quickly scrolling through it. “That’s never happened.”

Steve looks around, instantly on alert, but as suddenly as it started, the beeping stops.

Tony stands up next to Steve. “Art?” he calls, and Arto steps out from behind a generator.

“Didn’t touch anything,” he says. “Promise.”

Tony nods and Arto happily scampers off again, searching the ground for more stray screws. Reed looks at Tony, perplexed.

“What is it?” Tony frowns.

“It’s just an alert, based on an algorithm to detect signals and lock onto them-” Reed says distractedly, and his brows fly up as the beeping starts again. “Here, look, it’s trying to lock on somewhere-”

The beeping stops much more quickly this time around. Tony reaches for the tablet and Reed hands it over, still looking puzzled. Steve peers over his shoulder; Tony lets him, even though he doesn’t bank on Steve being able to make much sense of the streams of data now pouring in.

“I wrote that for much later stages in the program,” Reed is saying. “It shouldn’t be going off at this stage, unless you did anything.”

“I just looked at your data!” Tony insists. “I didn’t even touch anything!”

“Hang on,” Steve says slowly. “I think I know.”

“What?” Reed asks, and Tony would call him on the skeptical look he’s throwing Steve’s way, but to be honest he’s a little confused himself as to how Steve thinks he’s worked it out seeing as he’s literally only just had a crash course in what Reed is trying to do here, and that barely scratched the surface of the intricacies.

“Arto,” Steve calls. “Arto, get here.”                         

Arto’s head appears from under the desk of the computer terminals, back over on the other side of the room. “I didn’t touch anything,” he immediately repeats. “Didn’t, Steve. Promise.”

“I trust you, just come here,” Steve says, holding out a hand. Arto clambers out from under the desk and runs over, jumping up into Steve’s arms.

Steve looks at Tony meaningfully, and the penny drops. “Oh, no way.”

Steve hitches Arto up and slowly steps towards the portal chamber. He makes it two steps before the beeping starts up again. Reed looks from Arto and Steve to the tablet and then back again, mouth hanging open. Tony holds his breath and Steve steps back away from the chamber again, and the beeping dies down, leaving nothing but the humming of machinery in the space left behind.

“Well, shit,” Tony says.

“Shit,” Arto agrees, nodding.

“Language,” Steve says half-heartedly.

“Again,” Reed says distractedly. “Can you do it again?”

Steve makes to step towards the chamber but Reed flaps a hand at him. “No, just Arto,” he says. Arto looks at Steve and they share a look before Steve puts Arto down.

“No,” Arto protests. “Pick me up.”

“I will, I will,” Steve says. “I just need you to walk over there and come back.”

Doubt steals over Arto’s face. “Tests?”

And it hits Tony right in the chest, the small vulnerable voice and the uncertainty on Arto’s face. It must have had a similar impact on Steve because he immediately stoops to scoop Arto up, Arto kneeling on his arms and burying his face in Steve’s shoulder.

“No deal,” Steve says to Reed. “Sorry.”

He doesn’t sound the least bit apologetic, and Tony finds himself legitimately torn between protectiveness and intellectual curiosity, but Reed is looking at Arto with the tell-tale _‘I’m going to attach sensors to this thing’_ look, and he can practically see the reams of data scrolling behind his eyes.

“Well, would you look at the time, we gotta go,” Tony says, grabbing Steve by the elbow and wheeling him around towards the stairs, giving him a shove to get him moving.

“Tony, wait!” Reed called, frowning and looking put out and maybe a little bit desperate. “This is important, this might allow me to skip an entire phase-”

“You heard the Captain, no deal,” Tony says. “Reed, I love science as much as the next guy. But you are not using our kid to get what you need. I’m sorry. I’m out.”

“I wouldn’t hurt him,” Reed says. “Ten minutes. Just like having an MRI-”

“We said no,” Steve snaps. “Back off.”

“Steve, go,” Tony says and Steve doesn’t argue, just takes the stairs three at a time and then heads for the elevator. It closes behind him with a soft thud, leaving Tony and Reed alone.

“Look, we already saved your ass by not telling anyone that Arto is from another dimension,” Tony says. “We had to lie and say we rescued him from Hydra here. And he doesn’t know he’s from another dimension, so you can’t use him for this.”

And Reed opens his mouth to argue, and then stops and sighs. “Okay,” he says. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have immediately jumped there, I was just thinking-”

“I know,” Tony says. “But it’s a no, an eternal and unequivocal no. Art is already terrified of doctors and anything resembling testing because of what Hydra did to him. And me and Steve – and the rest of the Avengers, by the way – will stop anything that causes him upset with extreme prejudice.”

“I’m sorry,” Reed repeats and this time he sounds like he really means it. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay. I better catch up with Steve before he winds himself up,” Tony says, and Reed nods.

“Pass on my apologies,” he says, already turning back towards the chamber, looking at the tablet in his hand.

Tony takes that as the conversation being over, and simply leaves without further ado. He’s relieved to see Steve and Arto waiting for him in the lobby, though the reason that Steve has come to a standstill by the doors becomes painfully obvious when Tony joins them.

“Well, shit,” Tony says as he scrutinizes the crowd of reporters that have gathered outside the Baxter Building.

“Shit,” Arto agrees solemnly.

“I’d rather be fighting Hydra,” Steve says as he watches the crowd of reporters milling about, some of them checking watches, others on cellphones and pointing up at the top of the Baxter building.

“I know you would,” Tony says sympathetically, patting his elbow. “We can just do the whole no comment thing, as long as-”

“I’ll behave,” Steve says half-heartedly. “Let’s go.”

“If you say so, Captain,” Tony says, and pushes the doors open, hoping they make it home without too much hassle. _'Sorry, Pepper,'_ he mouths silently as he hears the excited calls of the reporters, and then follows Steve and Arto out into the crowd.

 


	21. Chapter 21

“Steve. Steve, get back here.”

Steve dodges back away from the couch and out of the way of Tony’s grabbing hand, pulling his sweats up over his hips. “Give me ten seconds.”

“Ten pointless seconds,” Tony drawls. “I’m taking those off you the moment you get back here.”

“Who says I’m coming back?” Steve teases, and he bends down to grab Tony’s boxers and jeans off the floor and tosses them towards him. “Get decent.”

“Get back here,” Tony insists, propping himself up on an elbow on the couch and making no effort whatsoever to get dressed.

“Clothes,” Steve insists. “If anyone comes down here-”

“They’ll enjoy the view, I’m sure,” Tony says. “Steve. Come on. Bruce and Jane are busy, and Jarvis will warn us if they’re on the way, right J?”

“For the good of everyone’s sanity, indeed I shall,” Jarvis says, sounding long suffering.

And Steve sighs and gives in, clambering back onto the couch and letting Tony pull him close. Tony makes a satisfied noise in the back of his throat as Steve settles on top of him, resting his head on Tony’s chest and settling his hips between Tony’s legs.

“Much better,” Tony murmurs, sliding his hands over Steve’s shoulders. “Remember when we did this after that big fight with the Skrulls?”

“That was in your workshop. We did it in here after the thing with Doom,” Steve replies lazily. “Memory is failing you, old man.”

Tony pinches his side and Steve just laughs. Tony continues to press his hands into the muscle of Steve’s shoulders, dragging his fingers up into the still slightly sweaty hair at the nape of his neck. Steve doesn’t often give in to Tony’s advances when outside of their quarters, but tonight he’d not had the energy to argue, and Tony had been so persuasive, voice warm and seductive in his ear as he’d pushed him back into the couch cushions.

And the fact that Arto had been several floors away, fast asleep in his bed that is not ten meters away from _their_ bed had kind of weakened his resolve too.

He hums contentedly as Tony scratches his nails lightly against his scalp. “Keep doing that,” he grunts.

“You might drool on the reactor if I do,” Tony says, but he shifts both hands up to carry on. “You’re like a cat. A giant patriotic cat.”

“I can live with that,” Steve says lazily, and then blinks his eyes open. “I should go check on Arto.”

“You could, or you could just ask Jarvis,” Tony replies.

“Arto is exactly as you left him, sleeping soundly,” Jarvis says without Steve having to ask. “Though both pillows and Bucky Bear are now on the floor.”

“Good enough for you?” Tony asks.

Steve lifts his head for a moment and then shrugs and lowers his head, pressing a kiss to the arc reactor. “Good enough for me,” he says, and settles back down.

“Good,” Tony says. His hands slide down Steve’s back, fingers dipping below the waistband of Steve’s sweats. Steve reaches back to bat his hands away, but Tony doesn’t desist and soon Steve gives up.

The lights are dimmed and for once the television isn’t on in the background, and Steve is content to just lie there in the peace and quiet. The last three days have been hard, sitting around on tenterhooks waiting for any word from Bucky or the others, whilst dealing with the press and their apparently insatiable need to know about Arto.

And dealing with Arto as well, which is turning out to be sometimes easy and sometimes cripplingly impossible. He’s just glad Tony has been here beside him, because without him Steve would possibly have lost his cool several times over.

“Stop thinking,” Tony murmurs.

“Shut up,” Steve murmurs back. He shifts atop Tony and kisses his neck, open mouthed and warm. He shifts slightly to the side so he can run a hand up Tony’s side, from his hip to his neck, cupping his jaw so he can lean up and kiss him-

A low buzzing from the coffee table signals his phone ringing. He’d ignore it, but he can see the caller ID - brown hair, a scowl half obscured by a metal hand trying to push the camera away- and so immediately reaches over for it, half lunging off the couch in his haste.

“Buckaroo?” Tony asks.

“Yep,” Steve says. He settles back on the couch, lying over Tony but propped up on his elbows as he answers his phone.

“Hey, Buck,” Steve says. “Everyone okay?”

“Yeah, we’re okay. Just finished shutting this mother down,” Bucky immediately replies, sounding exhausted. Steve can hear shouting and movement in the background and the rumble of engines not far away. “The usual cuts and bruises, a sprained ankle and a broken finger.”

“Thank god,” Steve says. “I’m guessing Barton?”

“Barton and Natasha,” Bucky says. “Though mention it and you’re liable to die.”

“Gottit,” Steve says. “What did you find?”

“Another rebirth knock-off pod,” Bucky says. “No files, they’d burned everything again. Though Nat did get someone to talk.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. He basically confirmed that they’re replicating Rebirth, said some shit about them being closer to a new breed of soldier every day, and some more shit about not being fool enough to try and synthesize their work from scratch? I dunno, Nat’s got the full transcript. I was busy beating the shit out of the guy – out of a guy.”

“Of course you were,” Steve says, and shakes his head at Tony who rolls his eyes in agreement.

“There were some schematics we managed to get our hands on too,” Bucky says. “Partially destroyed. “Some are definitely for the pods, but there’s another one that we can’t work out. We think it’s only part of a set, a single layer.”

“And it’s definitely not the pod?”

“No, it’s too big, looking at the couple of measurements that were on there,” Bucky says. “Matching it with some of the raw materials on site, it looks like they’re working on building something new, as well as the rebirth pods. But like I said, it’s not a complete set of schematics so we don’t know what the damn thing is. I’ll give you everything we’ve got when I get back, but I thought you’d want to know-”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks Buck,” Steve says. “Appreciated.”

“Thor’s helping pack up the pod, we’re going to bring it back to do analysis seeing as it didn’t get blown up.”

“Good call. Did you not find anything that would match the something new?”

“No. Just raw materials. Nothing exciting, except a stash of adamantium.”

“Hydra with access to valuable resources,” Steve sighs. “Great. Well, I guess we add that to the list of things we need to work out.”

“We’re already on it,” Bucky says and exhales audibly. “So how is everything your end? Everyone in one piece?”

“Yeah, we’re all good,” Steve says. Tony slides his hands up and down Steve’s biceps, lying back and patiently listening.

“You coping?”

Mouth hitching in a half smile, Steve looks down at Tony. “Yeah, I’m coping.”

“You sure?”

“He’s coping just fine,” Tony calls with a smirk. “In fact, he’s coping in lots of very creative ways and in very creative places-”

“Oh - fuck you,” Bucky says, sounding somewhere between irritated and disgusted, the same way he always does whenever he’s reminded that Steve has a sex-life. “I’m hanging up now.”

“Wait,” Steve says, and he reaches up to clap a palm over Tony’s laughing mouth. “Bucky, I’m sorry. When are you back?”

“Tomorrow morning, providing nothing fucks up,” Bucky says. “And you’re not sorry at all.”

“No, I’m probably not.”

“I hate you.”

“Love you too, Buck.”

The call cuts out and Steve snorts with laughter, tossing his phone aside and moving his hand from Tony’s mouth. It feels like a literal weight has been lifted off his chest, the worry and uncertainty vanishing now he knows everyone is okay.

“Relieved?”

“Yes. Relieved they’re all okay. Relieved that they’ve got someone to talk. And that Barton didn’t fall out the back of the jet.”

“That’s up there in the top three?”

“Oh yeah. Look how pissed Bucky was when he came back hurt last time,” Steve says, leaning down to kiss between Tony’s collarbones. “If he had got hurt in front of him, Buck would have probably killed him himself.”

Tony tilts his chin back, inviting Steve to carry on kissing his neck. “Barnes wouldn’t kill him,” he says, voice gone low and lazy as Steve’s mouth moves across his skin. “I think he’s too invested there at this stage in the game.”

“There’s nothing going on there,” Steve says, picking up on the unspoken commentary in Tony’s statement and feeling close to exasperated with it. Yeah, Bucky and Clint are close, but Bucky has never given Steve any indication that he’s into fellas, let alone that he’s interested in Clint like that.

“You’re kidding me right now,” Tony says flatly, and he looks down at Steve, expression clearly suggesting that he thinks Steve is an idiot. “Even Arto knows that that line is in no way, shape or form yellow. Think about it.”

Steve does, for about three seconds. And then promptly decides that even if - _if_ -Tony is right, he wants no part in it.

“Ten bucks says you’re wrong,” Tony says.

Steve just rolls his eyes. “Ten bucks says I’m wrong,” he agrees. “If you’re sure you can afford it.”

“You might be worth ten dollars,” Tony says, and slides his hands back down to very deliberately squeeze Steve’s ass. “Wow, getting a lot for my money.”

“You’re getting jack shit from me for ten dollars,” Steve replies. “I ain’t cheap.”

Tony laughs and Steve shuts him up with a kiss. Tony grunts contentedly in the back of his throat as he opens his mouth under Steve’s, hands still clutching at Steve’s ass-

“Sir, Captain, I hate to interrupt but Arto has woken and seems slightly distressed.”

“Oh, fuck,” Steve groans and drops his weight down onto Tony, burying his face in his shoulder. Tony lets out an _ooft_ and shoves at Steve’s shoulders.

“Get off me, you lump,” he says breathlessly. “I’ll go.”

Steve sighs and pushes himself up so Tony can extricate himself. Standing up and stretching, Tony yawns and then quickly gets dressed, and despite his earlier protestations, Steve is more than disappointed to lose sight of Tony’s naked body.

“You sure?” Steve asks, flopping back onto the couch, arm up above his head and other hand scratching idly at his stomach.

“Yeah,” Tony says. “I’ll call you if I need backup.”

Steve nods and Tony pads away, bare feet quiet on the floor. Steve is left alone in the silence of the lounge, mind drifting restlessly as he blinks at the ceiling.

_Closer to a new breed of soldier every day…_

The words knock restlessly around inside his brain. What the hell are Hydra up to? A new breed of soldier? Are they on about soldier like him, or are they actually trying to create something brand new? It would certainly make sense seeing as they have no evidence of Hydra working on all the components from Rebirth.

And something else, if those schematics and the adamantium that Bucky found are important.

Fuck, it’s so frustrating. They seem to be playing catchup with Hydra, doing nothing but putting out fires – pretty literally, so it would seem – as they happen. They need to get ahead of the game somehow, to work out a next step so they can intercept before Hydra have a chance to burn any more of their records.

He rolls onto his side and reaches for his phone. He flicks to Bucky’s name and stares at it, thinking hard for a moment before tossing his phone aside again. Bucky is probably thinking the exact same things he is, and he said he’d fully brief Steve when he gets back the next day. Steve is just going to have to trust him and resist the urge to interfere, because Bucky will probably call him up on his mollycoddling in short order and hang up anyway.

 _‘Stop backseat driving this mission, Rogers,’_ he can hear him saying, and he spares the ceiling a rueful smile.

“Hey Jarvis, how are they getting on?” he calls, eyes drifting shut.

“Arto has settled once more and appears to be nearly asleep,” Jarvis says. “I can gather that he woke up disorientated and a little upset, and has been easily calmed.”

“Good,” Steve says, still with his eyes closed. “Keep me posted.”

“As always, Captain.”

For not the first time since Bucky left, Steve half-heartedly wonders if he should get Jarvis to stop calling him Captain. Though thinking about being called anything else makes him feel like utter shit, so as he has done for the past three days, he lets it slide. It’s not exactly hurting anyone.

And well, if he wants to keep that just for himself, then no-one else has to know.

 

* * *

 

 

One moment the tower is peaceful and quiet. The morning sunlight is shining through the windows, lighting up the communal area with summer warmth. Tony is working on something for Pepper; Steve is going over the last mission report from his last mission while eating a second round of breakfast; Arto is lying on the floor and flicking through pictures of sharks on his tablet. Steve doesn’t think he’ll stay this calm when they tell him he’s got another medical check-up today, but for now he’s quiet and content.

Then Jarvis announces the return of the Avengers and everything quickly descends into pandemonium.

The entire crew plus Coulson all pour into the communal area, looking scraped and battered but generally none too worse for wear. Arto lets out an unholy shriek and scrambles for Clint, jumping at him and knocking him right over onto the floor in a flail of limbs and a clatter of arrows. Without even looking to see where Clint has gone, Natasha starts pulling off her tactical gear right there at the counter, swearing darkly in Russian about idiots and letting everyone know exactly what she thinks about the shield medics. Coulson heads straight for the coffee pot. Thor is setting Mjolnir down on the counter and talking loudly and insistently about going to find Jane. Bucky makes a beeline for Steve and collapses straight into his arms; Steve has to hastily catch hold of him so he doesn’t hit the floor, but he still slumps down so his face is mashed against Steve’s chest.

“Oh my god. Being in charge is the worst,” he mutters.

Steve pats him on top of his head, bemused. “Doing okay there, Buck?”

“The _responsibility_ ,” Bucky says like it’s a dirty word, pushing himself upright. He reaches over to pull the shield off his back, laying it on the counter and glancing at it reverently. “Holy shit. You spend half the time panicking that someone is going to get fuckin’ blown up or somethings-”

“Hey, breathe,” Steve laughs. He glances up as the elevator doors slide open; Thor gives a roar of delight and walks over to scoop Jane up, kissing her soundly. Bruce edges past them, shaking his head and laughing.

“Everyone got back in one piece, Buck,” Steve continues, and he can feel it like a warm bubble in his chest, simple happiness that everyone is home. “You did good.”

Bucky grins at him, light and uncomplicated like they’re back in forty-two and nothing bad had ever happened to either of them. “Yeah, guess you can retire for good, old man,” he grins and Steve shoves at him good-naturedly.

“Stark, get your spawn off of me,” Clint shouts, and half laughs – half groans as Arto bounces up and down on his chest. “Ow-w-w-w-”

“I miss you!” Arto shouts, and bends down to press his palms against Clint’s cheeks.

“I know but you’re squashing my organs,” Clint wheezes out, words muffled by the fact Arto is still squashing his cheeks. “Tony. Please.”

“He missed you, deal with it,” Tony says, seeming unconcerned that Clint’s ribcage is probably being realigned by the not inconsiderable strength in Arto’s thighs.

“Tony,” Steve calls at the same time Bucky shouts, “ _Stark!_ ”

“Alright, alright,” Tony says, and bends down to scoop Arto up, slipping his hands under his arms and hefting him off of Clint. “Let Bird-Brain get up.”

Arto cackles with laughter. “Bird Brain,” he echoes. His face is bright pink and his eyes bright, hopped up on excitement. He looks around and reaches out, making an indiscernible chirping noise.

Unexpectedly, it’s Nat that his eyes are fixed on. She looks up to meet his questioning gaze, and then simply steps forwards and takes him off of Tony, holding him to her front.

“Hello, Arto Solnishka Rogers,” she says and he grins. “Did you look after the boys while I was gone?”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Arto says promptly, and she smiles.

“Did they behave?” she asks slowly, mischievously.

Arto glances at Tony and grins. “They were gross.”

“More gross than you know, kiddo,” Tony says vaguely, heading over to where Coulson is pouring out countless cups of coffee. There’s a chorus of groans and collective eye rolling, and then everyone is crowding around the island counter and reaching for drinks, chattering happily. Clint is pulling snacks out of various cupboards and Bruce is being sensible and pouring glasses of water. Steve finds himself wedged in between Bucky and Tony, with Arto sitting on the counter in front of him, leaning back against him with his legs stretched out in front. He seems as happy as Steve to have everyone back, humming gleefully and making soft little squeaking sounds.

“So, taken care of?” Steve asks, settling a palm on Arto’s tummy. Arto yawns widely and reaches back, threading fingers of both hands into Steve’s hair. Steve smiles and on impulse presses a kiss to the side of his face; for once Arto doesn’t even call him gross, just wriggles contentedly.

“All taken care of,” Bucky says. “That facility anyway.”

“Did anyone else talk?” Steve asks.

“No,” Bucky admits grudgingly. “Just the one guy blathering on about not starting from scratch. He was pretty…well, he wasn’t in a coherent state when we found him. Nat didn’t have to press all that hard, and he didn’t last long.”

“Damn,” Steve says. Arto carries on stroking over his hair and he’s very conscious of not talking too frankly while he’s there.

“What does that even mean?” Tony asks. “Not starting from scratch?”

“I have no idea,” Bucky says. “Maybe they have a version of the serum already. Maybe he’s talking about the fact they have a vita-ray pod thing all ready to go.”

“Maybe it is mere bravado,” Thor says. “Hydra appear to be clutching at any answers at the moment.”

“That they do,” Bucky said. “They seemed a bit frantic when we got there.”

“Maybe it’s to do with Liliya,” Jane says, looking from Thor to the others. “Liliya Yegorov - the physicist that’s gone missing? Maybe they don’t need to start from scratch because they have her.”

“And the other guy,” Steve adds. “Este Greco.”

“They could both definitely help with the application of gamma radiation,” Bruce says, rueful and apologetic, like he knows it’s not what everyone wants to hear. “I’d be interested to look at this something new, see if it’s anything that’s gamma related.”

“Or even the something new you think they might be working on,” Natasha adds. “Though odds are it is probably a new version of Rebirth. The schematics showed us something big enough to be a chamber that could fit in several people at once.”

“Mass production of super soldiers,” Tony finishes, looking grave as Natasha nods. “Well, if they’re playing around with Rebirth then that’s definitely the endgame.”

“We are merely speculating,” Thor says. “We need to find someone willing to talk, or some clear indication of what their plan is.”

“Well until we find that, all we can do is speculate,” Bucky sighs. “One theory will fit.”

“Don’t theorize until you have facts or you will start making facts fit your theory,” Clint yawns absently, and when everyone looks at him, he shrugs and sits back. “Hey, I read.”

“Whatever you say, Sherlock,” Tony says. “But he’s got a point. We jump to conclusions we could miss something. And we’re way behind the mark here.”

“That we are,” Coulson says. His eyes are on his phone, his own mug of coffee already drained in front of him. “Barnes, we need to go to debrief. Those schematics have come in, and the copies of the few bits of paperwork we were able to salvage.”

Bucky groans. “Being Captain America sucks,” he sighs. “Can’t exactly skive debrief when you’re in charge.”

“Going to debrief is the only reason I am Captain America,” Steve says, perfectly straight faced. “It’s what I live for.”

“Oh shut your hole, Rogers,” Bucky replies irritably, and he reaches for the shield and swings it back onto his back. “I’m going, I’m going. Barton, come keep me company.”

“Nu-uh, I need him,” Steve says. “Vasquez is coming later to make sure Smart Art is growing; Clint, do you mind taking him?”

“What?” Arto asks, voice a whine, looking comically betrayed as he twist around to look at Steve. “No.”

“It’s Anna. You like Anna. And Clint is taking you,” Steve says. Arto narrows his eyes at him.

“No doctors.”

“No doctors,” Steve says. “Just Anna the medic.”

Arto eyes him for a moment longer then shrugs. “Okay.”

“Sorry, gorgeous,” Clint grins at Bucky, evidently thrilled with his get-out-of-debrief free card. “Looks like you’re on your own.”

“Ass,” Bucky retorts. “You’re supposed to be my glamorous assistant.”

“That in no way extends to going to debrief when I don’t have to.”

“Barnes,” Coulson interjects calmly, and Bucky pulls a face.

“Alright, keep your panties on, I’m getting,” he grumbles. “Where’s my helmet – in the jet?”

He claps Steve on the shoulder, cuffs Clint around the back of the head and then is gone, following Coulson and already deep in conversation. Steve watches him go, full of warm pride.

“So, Bucky Cap is a success?” Tony asks the moment the elevator doors slide shut.

“Yeah, why not,” Clint yawns again. “Fuck me, I’m tired.”

Natasha just shrugs and nods. Thor nods as well. “He did well,” he says. “Not a natural leader, but the makings of a man who could easily grow into one.”

“Not bad,” Steve says with a quiet smile.

“You have taught him well,” Thor says, and the smile grows bigger.

“Oh please, like his ego needs feeding,” Tony says.

Steve turns to him, expression flat. “I can’t believe those words even made it out of your mouth.”

There’s much snickering around the table. “Laugh it up,” Tony says with a casual one shouldered shrug. “By the way, everybody’s rent just increased by four hundred percent.”

“Four hundred percent of nothing is still nothing,” Clint says and Steve bites back a laugh.

“Well done Barton, proving that you can read and do basic math all in one day,” Tony says, and Clint shoots him a thumbs up.

“Alright, you’ve got an hour before Vasquez is coming over,” Steve says to Clint as the others draw away; Bruce heads for the refrigerator in search of more substantial food than snacks; Jane and Thor head to the stairwell hand in hand, Jane expounding on the work she’s being doing and Thor listening with a smile on his face; Natasha nudges Arto under the chin with her fingers before collecting all of her weaponry and gadgets and walking towards the stairwell.

“Okay. I’m going to wash up,” Clint says. “Or nap. Probably nap.”

“How’s your ankle?” Steve asks.

“Sore. Nothing that lying around for a few days won’t cure,” Clint says. “Which I am pretty good at.”

Steve laughs. “Take it easy, then,” he says. “We’ll send for you when Vasquez gets here?”

“Can I come?” Arto asks suddenly. “Clint. Can I come?”

Clint looks a little taken aback. “I’m going to sleep.”

“I be quiet,” Arto says earnestly.

“I’ll be quiet,” Tony corrects from over the top of his coffee mug.

“I’ll be quiet,” Arto repeats. “I’ll draw. I’ll sit on part of your bed and you can sleep on part of your bed. I’ll be quiet, like a fish. Steve, please?”

He turns beseeching eyes on Steve, who just shrugs. “Not up to me, Art.”

“Alright, you got a deal,” Clint says. “Though if you wake me up I will cry. Loudly. Like a baby. And I’ll tell Steve on you.”

“No,” Arto says, looking alarmed. “Don’t tell Steve.”

“Then don’t wake me up,” Clint says. “Come on then.”

Arto scrambles off of the table and runs over to Clint, snagging his fingers in the hem of his t-shirt. Yawning widely, Clint heads for the stairwell, limping slightly on his left ankle. The sounds of their footsteps soon fades, and Steve finds himself left alone at the counter with Tony.

“So,” Tony says, standing up behind his chair, hands coming to rest on Steve’s shoulders and squeezing firmly. “The whole brood back home, all of your baby chicks accounted for. Now what?”

“I…don’t know,” Steve laughs deprecatingly, leaning back into Tony’s touch. “Reckon Art is actually going to stay with Clint for an hour?”

“Possibly not,” Tony says, still kneading at Steve shoulders. “Hey, Steve.”

“Yeah?”

Steve tips his head back as Tony exhales softly, wrapping his arms around him and resting his chin against Steve’s shoulder.

“I am really utterly completely in love with you,” Tony sighs matter-of-factly. “It’s a bit tragic, really.”

Steve laughs, reaching up to hold onto Tony’s forearms and pressing his mouth to his wrist. “Likewise,” he murmurs. He turns his face towards Tony and nudges at his cheek with his nose. “Not so tragic. Working out pretty well.”

“I guess,” Tony smiles, and gently kisses him. “Okay. Come to the workshop with me. I’m going to finish this new quinjet design even if it kills me.”

“Or, we could take advantage of the fact Arto is pestering Clint and go take a shower?” Steve suggests.

Tony’s mouth drops open. “Engineering or sex, engineering or sex,” he mutters. “Can we discuss the quinjet while having sex in the shower? Or I could work on the quinjet and you could kneel beneath the workbench-”

He breaks off as Steve elbows at him. “What?” he asks, indignant. “Both legitimate suggestions-”

“Get up the stairs, and get in the shower,” Steve says bluntly. “Or I will carry you over my shoulder.”

“Is this your whole caveman routine?” Tony asks with a shiver that Steve strongly suspects is fake. “God, it’s so hot. Grunt at me.”

“Now.”

“Oh, that’s it,” Tony says. “I might actually make you drag me.”

Steve merely stands up, making Tony step backwards. “Alright,” he says easily and starts walking towards the elevator. "You go work on the quinjet, I’ll just go have sex with myself in the shower.”

There’s a pause, and then Tony’s brain apparently re-engages enough for him to formulate coherent sentences. “Don’t _say_ things like that,” he says, and Steve bites back a grin as he hears Tony striding after him. “There is a child in the building, and you are absolute filth-”

“All the more reason for you to come help clean me up,” Steve says innocently, and Tony groans and shoves him towards the elevator.

“Dirty, filthy cheat,” he accuses, though he’s pulling him around by his hips and leaning up to kiss him. “You are a manipulating menace-”

“Master tactician,” Steve corrects, and frames Tony’s face with his hands, kissing him gently. “Hey, Tony.”

“What?”

“I’m pretty much utterly completely in love with you,” he murmurs, and Tony’s eyes go a fraction wider and then he smiles, open and unguarded.

“You know I would have let you get your own way without you saying that?”

Steve tuts at him. “Shut up, Tony,” he says. “I said it because I wanted to,” he pauses. “And I was pretty sure I was getting my own way anyway."

“Filthy cheat,” Tony informs him, but he’s laughing and Steve doesn’t think he’s ever felt happiness like this, so easy and warm, with everything slotting into place in his chest like puzzle pieces.

But he doesn’t have the words for it, and isn’t sure he wants to say them out loud anyway, so he simply smiles back and leans down to kiss that laughing mouth, pulling Tony up close as the elevator doors slide shut.

 

* * *

“So, still underweight but a lot closer to his target weight than he was last time,” Vasquez says over the sound of Arto banging a plastic first-aid box against the side of the bed, singing something incomprehensible as he does. Once again, he’s wearing Vasquez’s lanyard around his neck but has foregone the headlamp today in favor of a bright yellow Hello Kitty band-aid that’s stretched over the bridge of his nose. Clint is sitting next to him, leaning back against the wall with his eyes half shut, yawning widely every now and again.

“Good to know,” Steve says, still somewhat bemused as to where the hell the Hello Kitty band-aids even came from. “He’s eating pretty well now. Still picky, but eating more.”

“And a big, big, big star and a star and Clint-” Arto sings loudly and Clint gives him a lazy thumbs up. Steve winces; singing is apparently not Arto’s forte.

“No change in height yet, but I wasn’t expecting that anyway,” Vasquez says, tapping away on her tablet as she talks. “He’ll probably shoot up when he’s back in an acceptable weight range. Barton, do we think we can get blood pressure?”

“Art, time for the squishy thing,” Clint says, pushing himself upright with what looks like a lot of effort. “Hold my hand.”

Arto stops singing and reaches for Clint’s hand, holding it tightly in one of his own. He watches with interest as Vasquez comes over and slips the blood pressure cuff onto Clint’s arm, smiling as she does.

“So this goes here, and then what’s next?” she says, and smiles as Arto points at the bulb. “Good job.”

Arto grins toothily at her, then watches closely as she puts her stethoscope on and inflates the cuff.

“Normal blood pressure,” she says with a satisfied nod. “Not exactly what I was expecting.”

“Check Steve’s,” Clint says. “It’ll be through the roof.”

“I am not allowed to check Steve’s,” Vasquez says. “There are very strict rules at SHIELD about who is allowed to poke and prod at Captain America.”

Clint bites back on a snigger and Steve sends him a flat look. “Yeah, there are serious rules here about who is allowed to poke and prod at Captain America, too.”

“You are not funny,” Steve says, and then looks back to Vasquez. “Really? Considering the amount of medics who wanted their paws on me when I was last injured, I would assume it was a policy of prod and poke at anything you can.”

“Well, if you were injured that’s different,” she says. “But as far as regular check-ups and medical history goes, well let’s just say there’s a lot of paperwork and clearance involved.”

“Huh,” Steve says mildly. “Good to know.”

“Right, your turn,” Clint says to Arto, and Arto simply nods and sticks out his arm, still holding onto Clint’s hand.

“Good job, little one,” Vasquez praises and he grins again, swinging his feet back and forth happily.

Steve smiles, rocking back and forth absently on the chair he’s on. He’s pretty impressed with Arto so far, and how he’s done everything that’s been asked of him. The only thing he’d objected to was getting on the scales, though that had been easily solved by weighing Clint and then weighing Clint as he was holding Arto. He’d been tempted to ask Arto why he’d been wary of the scales, but had chosen not to seeing as Arto had been so content and biddable.

“Steve,” Arto calls as Vasquez steadily inflates the cuff. “Steve, I’m good. I’m being really good.”

“And?” Steve asks.

“So, I can go outside?”

Steve laughs. “Yes,” he says. “Later, you can go outside. After lunch, though.”

Arto squeaks happily, leaning back into Clint’s side. Vasquez slips the cuff off of him and sets it aside.

“All normal and good,” she says. “Thank you, Arto.”

Arto doesn’t hang about once he knows the check-up is over. He scrambles off the bed and makes a beeline for the door, tossing the first aid box aside. It hits the floor with a clatter and bursts open, scattering dressings, scissors and other first-aid related paraphernalia all over the floor.

“Go to the kitchen, Tony’s made you lunch,” Steve shouts after him, but there’s no reply. Steve simply shakes his head and crouches down, starting to pick up the mess.

“I’ll go catch it,” Clint says. “Thanks for the check-up, doc.”

“You’re welcome,” Vasquez waves him away. Clint obligingly leaves the room, and Steve can hear him yelling after Arto as he exits.

“So, everything okay?” Steve asks as he tosses a handful of band-aids back into the box, wanting to check there was nothing Vasquez was holding back from saying in front of Clint or Arto.

“Physically, yes,” Vasquez says. “Though I’m concerned about his speech.”

“It’s getting better,” Steve says, and he sounds defensive even to his own ears.

“Of course it is,” Vasquez reassures him. “His vocabulary and his understanding of spoken language has increased a lot even since I last saw him. But he’s still very behind, so he could do with some language support as soon as possible.”

“We’ll get on it,” Steve promises her and she nods, apparently satisfied.

“You’re doing well with him,” she says. “Off the record, of course. Not exactly a professional medical opinion, but you’re doing well. And that’s on top of running SHIELD missions all the live long day. You must be exhausted.”

“I get by,” Steve says neutrally, with a shrug. It seems that other than Fury and Coulson, SHIELD have no idea that it’s not Steve out there accompanying them. He can only hope that Bucky is being discreet wherever he is at the moment, because if Vasquez returns to SHIELD and sees Captain America there she’s going to definitely smell a rat. “Being a super soldier is good for a few things every now and again.”

She laughs, standing up. “I’ll bet. Okay then. Four weeks from now and I’ll swing by again,” she says, slipping her tablet and stethoscope into her bag and standing up, reaching to shake Steve’s hand. “I’ll call and arrange about a week before.”

“Sounds good,” Steve says, and he gathers up the rest of the stray equipment and sets the box back in its rightful place. She waits for him to finish so he can follow her to the elevator and see her out, repeating his promise to get language support for Arto as soon as possible as he says goodbye.

Medical check-up successfully completed, he heads down to the kitchen to tackle the next mission: lunch. When he arrives, Clint is assembling what looks to be the biggest sandwich he’s ever seen in his life, and Arto is licking tentatively at what looks like a cube of mango. Tony is on the phone, looking disgruntled, and waves half-heartedly at Steve as he comes in

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. I’m coming,” he says, and he hangs the phone up. “Your replacement is bossy,” he grouches, and Steve laughs, reaching over to pick up a piece of mango from Arto’s plate. Arto makes a noise of protest, shoves the cube he was licking at in his mouth and then grabs his plate, moving it out of Steve’s range.

“What’s he want?” Steve asks, smiling exasperatedly at Arto who pouts sulkily at him, curling his arm protectively around his plate. He pulls out a stool on the opposite side of the counter, though Arto still eyes him suspiciously as he wolfs down another piece of mango.

“Wants me to go and help with the dis-assembly of this second rate Vita-Ray pod they picked up,” he sighs, walking over to lean on Steve’s shoulder. “Which I very much want to do, but still.”

“You want to do it because you want to do it, not because Bucky told you do?” Steve suggests.

“See, now you get me,” Tony says. “I better go.”

“Can I come?”

Steve and Tony both turn to look at Arto who has perked up, staring at Tony with wide eyes. “Please? Steve said I could.”

“Steve said you could go outside,” Steve corrects. “He’s going into work, Art.”

“I can take him,” Tony says unexpectedly. “He can help, right?”

“Yes,” Arto says immediately. “Yes, I can help.”

“And then there’s always the option of letting him loose in Fury’s office,” Tony says. “All those glass walls and windows, just begging for sticky handprints.”

Steve isn’t sure. “I don’t know-”

“Come on. Consider this my payback for them calling me in outside of official consulting hours.”

“Isn’t that going to be pretty much rubbing Fury’s face in it?” Clint asks through a mouthful of ham.

“I fail to see your point,” Tony says, utterly nonplussed.

“Alright,” Steve concedes, because he’s not going to lie – a small selfish part of him does very much want to rub Nick Fury’s face in it. “Hang on – but if Bucky’s already there and I show up-”

“I’ll take him,” Tony says with a shrug.

“What, by yourself?” Steve asks, taken aback. He twists around to scrutinize Tony, wondering if it’s just him that’s a little thrown by the idea.

“Yeah, piece of cake,” Tony says, and yep, he seems completely at ease in a way Steve certainly is not, which seems vastly unfair because Tony has been there the entire time, has literally witnessed first hand what Arto can do. “He’ll behave, won’t you Art?”

“Yep,” Arto says, and then seems to reconsider, looking hopeful. “But can Steve come?”

“Not this time,” Tony says. “You either wait and go out with Steve later, or you come with me now.”

“Now,” Arto says immediately. “I’ll go with you now.”

“Okay, finish your mango and eat that sandwich.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Steve asks a little helplessly, watching as Arto immediately attacks his lunch with vigor. “What if-?”

“I can handle him, Steve,” Tony interrupts, voice quiet so Arto and Clint don’t overhear. “Let me do this. I am his Dad too, even if the press seem to have forgotten that.”

He meets Steve’s eyes and as he does Steve gets why he’s asking; the focus from the press has been very much that Arto is Steve’s son, and that Tony is Steve’s partner. Tony has always loved Arto, from the moment he arrived, and to be relegated to that position can’t feel great.

And he supposes Arto has been doing so well over the past few days. Discounting the minor thing with the coffee table a few nights ago – and a few mild tantrums over sleeping and eating acceptable lunch, and that whole thing with the screaming fit over the blue socks he hadn’t wanted to wear – he’s been pretty okay. And he wants to go, and Steve doesn’t know if he has the heart to stop him.

“You need to?” Steve asks casually.

“Kinda think I do,” Tony says. “Problem?”

“Not at all. I just need you both to be safe.”

“We’ll be fine,” Tony says. “He’s been great. And Buckaroo is at the other end if I do end up needing a hand.”

And Steve knows he can’t really say no, even though the thought of Tony being out there with Arto unaccompanied by anyone who is a match for Arto’s strength scares him shitless. It’s going to be a moment of trust – a huge fucking moment – in Arto, Tony and himself.

“Okay,” he says, ruthlessly squashing all of his fears into place, leaning up to kiss Tony and feeling a little like he does when he jumps without a parachute. “Okay. Go for it.”

“Thanks,” Tony says easily, but his hand reaches for Steve’s and squeezes it tightly, a silent moment of appreciation and thanks. “We’ll be back before you know it.”

“Alright,” Steve murmurs. “Be good.”

“I am always good,” Tony says boldly, and cups Steve’s jaw, pressing at his bottom lip with his thumb. “How about I take the briefcase suit, just to put your mind at ease?”

And Steve feels himself relax at the compromise. “Yeah,” he says gratefully. “Yeah, please do.”

“You got it,” Tony says. “Right, I’m going to grab that, you get that sandwich down him and get shoes on his feet-”

Arto shouts something that sounds like an objection around his mouthful of sandwich, almost losing his half-chewed bite down his front. Clint hastily reaches over and claps his hand over Arto’s mouth.

“Eat then shout,” he says, grimacing as he pulls his hand away. “Oh, that’s disgusting.”

Arto swallows, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sorry,” he says to Clint, pulling at his shirt with sticky fingers. “Clint, I’m sorry.”

“You’re gross,” Clint says, and he wipes his hand on Arto’s shirt, making him squeal and shove him away.

“Barton!” Tony shouts, and Clint holds his hands up, defensive ‘what?’ expression on his face. “I am taking him out, I know its good enough for you but I am not taking him out if he looks like trash.”

“Well that’s mean,” Clint says. “Arto, your dad is mean.”

“You made me sticky,” Arto says, plucking at his shirt. “And you’re not allowed to be sticky if you go outside.”

“At least someone knows the rule,” Tony says. “Clean shirt then, brat.”

“Purple shirt,” Arto says, shoving the last of his sandwich into his mouth and shoving the plate away. “Going to get purple shirt.”

“Hey, hey, you say bye first, Trouble,” Steve says, rocking back on his chair and managing to snag the back of Arto’s shirt. Arto wheels around with an ‘ _urk_ ’, flailing madly on one foot before he rights himself.

“Bye, bye, bye,” he says, crawling up into Steve’s lap. “You come with us. Please.”

“Can’t,” Steve says. “I’ve got work to do here.”

“Ste-eve,” Arto whines.

“Hey, go without me or don’t go at all.”

“That’s not fair,” Arto says, but he leans in and presses a kiss to the side of Steve’s face. “Okay. I will go for…not long. You stay here and do work and be good.”

Steve’s mouth twitches. “Okay, as long as you go with Tony and be good.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I mean it,” Steve insists. “You have to be good.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” Arto says, and then he leans back, craning his neck to look at Tony, evidently his ally in the situation. “Tony, tell Steve I’ll be good.”

“He’ll be good,” Tony says in acquiescence. “Now come on. Say goodbye, get changed.”

Arto tips himself back into Steve’s arms, winding skinny arms around his neck. “Green,” he whispers, and Steve hugs him tight, entirely unwilling to actually let him go.

“Green,” he murmurs in reply, and makes himself sit back, lifting Arto off his knee and setting him on the floor, wondering vaguely why it feels like his heart is breaking a little. He watches as Arto pelts towards the stairwell, and Tony moves to follow. Steve catches his wrist.

“Tony,” he says, but the rest of the words won’t come, can’t be found.

“I know,” Tony says. Behind them, Clint gets up and wanders away towards the stairwell with his sandwich in hand, showing a surprising amount of tact.

Steve pulls Tony close for a moment, needing to have him there in his hands. Tony leans over him, holding his head to his chest.

“You know I’d die before I let anything happen to him,” he says, and Steve laughs thickly.

“I know, I trust you,” he says. “I just never expected…I feel like I’m losing a limb, and you’re going all of an hour across the state-”

“Daddy Rogers,” Tony says simply, stroking fingers behind Steve’s ears. “Knew you‘d get there.”

“You did not,” Steve says, laughter turning depreciating for a moment. “I seem to remember you telling me that you’d do better without me.”

“Well I’m obviously a liar,” Tony says. “Who says stupid things when he’s upset. Okay, maybe I didn’t know you’d get here. But I’m so, _so_ glad you did.”

“He still makes me want to scream some days,” Steve admits. “And I have been tempted to walk away from him. Not permanently-”

“Steve, when he gets going no-one wants to be there,” Tony tells him. “We are, because we love him. But he’s hard work.”

“And you’re the one wanting to take him to SHIELD with you,” Steve says, looking up, and propping his chin on Tony’s chest, blinking in the light of the reactor.

“I’m a maniac, clearly,” Tony says, his words and hands gentle. “I’ll work for a couple of hours and then come straight home.”

“Thank you,” Steve says. “I’m going to go to the gym, you head straight out.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” Steve says. “Take him while I’ve said yes. He comes back I’m likely not to let him go.”

“Okay,” Tony says. “I’ve got my phone.”

He presses a quick kiss to Steve’s mouth and then he’s off, leaving Steve completely alone. He sits at the counter for a moment, letting the moment wash over him and appreciating just how far he’s come.

From Steve Rogers, Captain America and on-the-side lover of Tony Stark, to Steve Rogers, father and publicly recognized partner of Tony Stark.

It’s one hell of a shift.

Feeling a little despondent – and very much like he wants Tony back – he gets up from the counter, snagging Arto’s uneaten fruit and eating it on his way down to the gym. He quickly changes out of his jeans, slipping into a pair of sweats before wrapping his hands and heading for the punching bag.

“Hello, old friend,” he murmurs as steps up, shaking his arms out and the proceeding to take out everything he’s feeling on the punching bag. Jarvis informs him when Tony and Arto have left the building and he just grunts in reply, stomach twisting in a knot and fighting down the urge to go after them.

He doesn’t. He forcibly ignores that part of him, knowing that he won’t earn any credit with Tony or Arto by going after them, no matter how much he wants to. After a while, the intensity of the feeling fades and settles, and he actually finds it’s quite nice to have half an hour to himself.

It’s Jarvis who calls a halt to his impromptu work-out, voice clear and apologetic over the speakers.

“Captain Rogers, Agent Vasquez has returned to the building and is requesting access.”

Steve frowns, feeling slightly worried as he catches the punching bag with his hands and stills it. Did they miss something with Arto earlier? Is there something she needs to tell him about? “Patch her through.”

“Captain Rogers? I’m so sorry, but I believe I left my pass in the medlab,” her voice comes through, apologetic.

Relieved that there’s no bad news, Steve lets out a breath. “Either that, or Arto still has it,” he says, stepping away from the bag and unwrapping his hands. “Come on up.”

“Thank you,” she replies, and the connection cuts out.

Steve makes his way to the medlab so he can be there when she arrives. He has a quick scout around but the pass is nowhere to be seen, which means that Arto probably still has it. Damn.

She arrives in the medlab and Steve waves, giving her an apologetic smile. “Can’t find it,” he says. “Though you’re welcome to look.”

“Thank you,” she says gratefully, pushing her long hair out of her face. “I don’t know that they’ll let me back into SHIELD without it. Not without a lot of waiting and paperwork.”

“Well if there’s one thing SHIELD likes, it’s their paperwork,” Steve says, and she laughs. “Want me to call Tony and check if Arto has it?”

“Oh no, don’t worry,” she says. “If it’s not here I’ll assume Arto has it. I’ll just face the paperwork.”

“Well they’re on their way to SHIELD anyway,” Steve says. “I’ll get him to drop it off with security.”

“I don’t want to bother-”

“No bother, I’ll just text him,” Steve says. He pulls his phone from his pocket.

_Arto has got Vasquez’s pass. Drop it off at SHIELD security._

“Thank you, Captain,” Vasquez says. “I’m so sorry-”

“Hey, don’t worry,” Steve says, and looks down as his phone starts buzzing in his hand. He frowns down at the screen because it shows that Reed Richards is calling him. Reed Richards has never called him personally in his life.

“Mind if I take this?” he asks Vasquez.

“Go ahead,” she says. “I’ll keep looking if that is alright by you.”

“By all means,” Steve says, and steps out into the corridor to answer the phone.

“Reed? Everything okay?”

“No,” Reed’s voice comes back, sounding panicked. Steve’s gut lurches like he’s missed a step.

“Whoa, what’s up?” Steve asks, and then something occurs to him. “Have you done something very illegal with that damn portal chamber?”

“No, I haven’t,” Reed says. “But it is to do with the portal chamber.”

Steve reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose. He fucking knew it. “Explain.”

“You know Arto set off the sensors on my machines? Well, I – basically, I widened the search parameters of the equipment to see if the machine would pick him up where he was in the Tower-”

“You did what?!”

“Hear me out,” Reed says, and he sounds agitated enough to pause Steve’s incredulous anger.

“Okay, go on.”

“Well it did. It picked him up like he was a beacon. So I sent Johnny out with some equipment to see how far the range went, and – and we picked up another signal.”

Steve goes very still. “What?”

“There is someone else who has access to this technology, Steve,” Reed says, and the bottom drops out of Steve’s stomach.

The schematics. Something else that Hydra are working on. 

_'The schematics showed us something big enough to be a chamber that could fit in several people at once.'_

Natasha’s words come back to him, and he realizes they’ve got it all wrong.

Oh, shit.

Reed is still talking though. “Whoever it is, they don’t just have access – they’re moving people between dimensions, and I think they’ve used Arto as a signal to lock onto.”

Horror is slowly creeping up through his core. “Oh, god,” he says. “Reed, it’s Hydra. They’ve built a portal chamber - and we’ve left them a damn breadcrumb trail.”

“I’m sending you the co-ordinates,” Reed says instantly. “But Steve, this is bad - I tried to call Tony and he’s not picking up.”

It’s nothing short of absolute dread that fills Steve from head to toe. It feels like his heart stops, blood rushing into his ears, all he can hear is an odd ringing noise because Tony is not picking up his phone and _Tony has Arto with him._

“Steve? Steve!”

The world comes back in a rush of noise. He pulls himself together through sheer force of will. “Reed, I’ll call you back,” he says. “Jarvis, call Tony.”

Over the speakers he hears the call connect and start to ring. And ring. And ring. His stomach twists into a churning uncomfortable knot, all of his insides feeling swollen and displaced as the call rings and fucking rings, and then cuts out.

“Jarvis - Bucky,” he says, throat too tight.

Bucky’s phone doesn’t even connect. It goes straight to voicemail, Bucky’s flippant tone telling him to leave a message.

“Trace them,” Steve demands, and he’s making himself move, striding towards the elevator and slapping the button. “Get me Clint and-”

There’s a bright stabbing pain in his neck. He gasps and wheels around, lashing out instinctively and sending the body behind him flying back into the wall with a thud and a cry of pain.

Vasquez sits up, gasping. There’s a syringe in her hand, and a look of apology on her face as she braces herself against the wall.

“I’m sorry, Captain,” she says, and she raises her fingers to the comm unit in her ear. “Target three. Neutralized.”

 


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter. But only half of it. Because it got crazy long. So I guess it's not actually the last chapter? Whoops. Sorry about that.

Blind rage filling him from head to toe, Steve takes a violent step towards Vasquez, his only intent to hurt her as much as she has just hurt him. However, as his foot hits the floor his knee buckles and he crashes to the floor, hard. Confused, he tries to get up but he can’t; his phone slips from his hand and he has to lean over forwards, bracing his fist on the floor in front of him.

Oh god, she’s fucking drugged him. Tony and Arto and Bucky are possibly in danger and he’s let himself get drugged. Fuck, he shouldn’t have let them go without him, look what he’s done-

Breathing heavily through his mouth, he looks up at her. “What have you done with them-?”

Vasquez ignores him and climbs to her feet. “I’m sorry,” she repeats. “But we need to do this.”

“I fucking hate Hydra,” Steve bites out. His vision is going swimmy, blurring around the edges. He blinks hard, fighting whatever it is that’s wrestling with his consciousness, trying to pull him under.

“We hate you as well,” Vasquez replies, her tone much cooler than it had been before. “Team Beta, prepare for extraction-”

The elevator doors slide open. Vasquez stops speaking and goes very still.

“You alright, Cap?” Natasha asks, voice calm.

“Been better,” Steve manages to say, and he’s never been gladder to hear her voice. “You wanna take care of that for me?”

“Gladly.”

Vasquez is obviously trained – and trained well – but she doesn’t stand a chance. Within thirty seconds Natasha has her slammed face first into the carpet, arms twisted up behind her back.

“Jarvis, get Bruce and tell him Steve needs a pick me up,” she says calmly. “And call Fury. Tell him he’s got rats.”

Vasquez turns her face to the side, panting. Her nose is bloody, lip and chin smeared red. “I don’t want to sound like I am a cliché,” she says. “But you’re way too late, Widow.”

“We’re never too late,” Natasha says, sounding bored. “We’re fashionably late.”

“They’ve got-” Steve says, and his mouth is too dry. His limbs are shaking and he’s pretty sure he’s going to throw up and pass out in short order. Black edges are creeping in and it’s getting harder to breathe. “Nat. They’ve got them.”

Natasha blinks, looks down at Vasquez. “Who have you got?” she asks. When Vasquez doesn’t reply straight away, she tightens her grip and carries on talking, voice low and deadly. “You’re a smart woman. You know how this goes. You can shout 'hail Hydra' and declare that you will never tell, then I will hurt you quite a bit, and then you’ll probably spill. Unless you have cyanide in that lying mouth of yours.”

“The child, the Winter Soldier and the Captain,” Vasquez bites out. “Three super-soldiers.”

“How,” Natasha asks. She pulls on Vasquez’s arm and she gasps in pain into the floor.

“We knew the Winter Soldier was covering for the Captain. He wandered right into SHIELD,” Vasquez says. “He wasn’t exactly a challenge to put under.”

“Maybe, but I don’t think you’ve accounted for what will happen when he wakes up,” Natasha says coldly. “How did you get Arto?”

"The child has my pass,” she says, and Steve could kill her. “It’s traceable.”

“Did you take Stark as well?” Natasha asks. Vasquez doesn’t answer, and Natasha wrenches her wrists around until there’s a crack; Vasquez bites back a scream, face screwing up in pain.

“Yes, si, yes. He was with the child-”

And Steve thought he couldn’t feel any worse, but this feels like dying. Arto and Tony are gone, and he wasn’t there to keep them safe-

There’s the sound of footsteps running on the stairwell and then Bruce is there, surveying the scene with a hard expression before dropping on his knees beside Steve. “You with me?” he asks calmly.

“Barely,” Steve manages to say. “Bitch got me.”

“And yet you’re not completely out, so you’re fine,” Bruce says. “Arm.”

Steve manages to hold his arm out, and Bruce slides a needle into the crook of his elbow.

“Not that I don’t trust you,” Steve says, and pauses to pant in a few breaths, feeling like he did all those years ago with his asthma. “But what are you giving me?”

“She’s a SHIELD medic,” Bruce says. “With access to your medical history. So she knows the one thing that SHIELD know will slow you down. What SHIELD don’t know is that we know the one thing to get you back on your feet.”

His vision is clearing already. The sensation of having iron bands around his chest fades, allowing him to breathe deep and true. He can feel the trembling in his limbs easing off, and in the place of the nausea he feels nothing but a steadily growing desperate rage. He wants to rip Vasquez limb from limb – how dare she come into his home and treat him like a _friend_ , pretend to care about Arto-

“Where are they?” he says, and he slowly stands up, towering over Vasquez. He’s never felt anything like it, his whole chest ripped open and forced inside out, the place where Tony and Arto have settled throbbing raw and agonizing. “Where. Are. They.”

And Vasquez just laughs, breathless and bitter. She sounds close to tears. “Save your anger, Captain. You’ll need it in the upcoming war.”

“What war?”

“You’re so naïve,” she says, but she doesn’t sound vindictive or spiteful. She sounds sad, if anything. It makes Steve’s skin crawl. “The war never ended.”

“Why,” he manages. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I wanted to,” she says. “Because I believe this is the way to a better life for the whole planet. How can you not see that-”

“Why do you need the super-soldiers?” Natasha asks before Steve can lash out at her again, verbally or otherwise. “We thought Hydra were into making their own better versions?”

Vasquez shakes her head. “Why would we bother trying to replicate the serum when we’ve got three sources of healthy cells with it already in?”

Steve’s mind is racing. Oh god. “And the portal chamber,” he asks brusquely. “That’s Hydra as well? Why do you need that?”

Natasha looks sharply at him, but doesn’t say anything.

“That was all your doing,” Vasquez says. “Years and years of painful work. Slow work. And then you brought home a super-soldier from a dimension where we had already managed it, so we thought we would take a leaf out of your book and see if we could find help elsewhere. You opened that door. You made this a thousand times easier.”

“What do you mean?” Bruce asks sharply. “Have you brought something through from another dimension?”

Vasquez lifts her eyes to his, and simply says, “yes.”

“Bullshit,” Bruce says. “There’s only one person with access to the technology to move people from dimension to dimension-”

“She’s not lying,” Steve says bitterly. “Reed Richards called me about a minute ago. He picked up on these guys moving people between dimensions.”

“And we have opened up a passageway to the dimension from where the child is from,” Vasquez says. “A world where Hydra rules supreme, where the Avengers are no more-”

“Shut up,” Steve says violently, but she doesn’t listen.

“Where there is enough expertise to share with our world, men of science who will strip the serum from every cell they can-”

“I said shut up!” Steve bellows, and Bruce is there with a hand on his chest, doing his best to keep Steve back-

There’s a crash from the stairwell and then Clint appears, looking murderous. He’s fully suited up, and without saying a word, nocks an arrow and walks over to point it straight at Vasquez’s face. When he speaks, his voice is cold and filled with more anger than Steve has ever heard from him before.

“Where are you taking him?” he asks, and Steve’s anger is momentarily stalled, because Clint somehow already knows Bucky is missing.

Vasquez looks at him, apologetic. “We needed him,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re fucking sorry?” Clint yells, and he makes a strangled noise of anger in the back of his throat, stepping even closer. The point of the arrow touches Vasquez’s forehead and she closes her eyes, swallowing hard.

“Clint back off,” Natasha says. “She’s telling us everything, you can’t kill her.”

“I don’t care, what did you do to him?” he yells, voice cracking. He’s falling apart right there in the corridor. “I know he’s gone-”

“How do you know?” Natasha interrupts, watching him closely.

“Tracker,” Clint snaps. His fingers flex on his bow. “We made a pact. We’ve each got one the other can follow.”

“Well, if that doesn’t say unhealthy co-dependency, I don’t know what does,” Natasha says grimly. “You know his exact location?”

Clint nods jerkily. “I’m going to get him,” he says, turning away.

“Clint, wait!” Steve shouts, and grabs hold of him.

“Fuck you,” Clint spits. “I’m going to get him. Just because you painted a fucking target on his back by sticking him with the goddamn shield-”

And the words hurt, but Steve has never seen Clint so upset, so angry and out of control. He knows how it feels. "Clint, listen to me,” he snaps. “It’s not just Bucky, it’s not about the shield. They’ve got Tony and Arto as well.”

Clint goes very still. The anger turns into horror, all the color draining from his face.

“They’ve taken them all,” Steve says, and his hands are shaking again, and he doesn’t think it’s anything to do with the drugs that Vasquez tried to floor him with. “They’re trying to use Arto and Bucky’s cells to make more super-soldiers. And we’re all going to get them back.”

Clint stares at him a moment longer. “Okay,” he says roughly. “Okay, let’s go.”

Steve nods, and he turns to Natasha. “What are we doing with her?”

“If we can find Bucky through this tracker Clint has, we don’t exactly need her anymore,” Natasha says.

“Unless she agrees to help,” Steve says.

She shakes her head, pitying. “Our need is greater than yours.”

“He’s a _child-_ ”

“And if the life of one child is the price for this, then I will pay it.”

“Fuck you,” Clint says, and before Steve can stop him, the arrow is drawn, nocked and let fly, hitting its mark with a sickening thunk.

The corridor is silent for a moment. Steve stares down at the body that’s slowly seeping blood over the carpet. Natasha stands up impassively, watching Steve for a reaction. Bruce is also looking to him, cautious.

“She deserved it,” Steve says. “No-one touches my fucking family.”

“Seconded,” Clint says, lip curling as he looks down at the body. The sheer weight of his anger is matched only by Steve’s own, and Steve knows that the people around him will go to the end of the fucking world to get Tony, Arto and Bucky back.

“Someone call Thor,” he says, heart pounding against his sternum. “And get suited up. Let’s go and get them.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So, you look good in black, so it would seem,” Natasha says, her voice quiet behind Steve’s shoulder. He grunts in reply, still staring forwards out of the front of the jet, unblinking as the miles whip by. Clint is piloting and is uncharacteristically quiet, eyes fixed dead ahead on the horizon and barely even moving. Thor and Jane are sitting behind him and still arguing in low, fierce voices. Behind them, Bruce is sitting in one of the seats and staring blankly down at his restlessly bouncing knees, pulling agitatedly at his lip.

“When did you get this?” she asks, and reaches out to touch the edge of the black stealth suit that Steve is wearing. It’s a far cry from the suit that Bucky has taken over for him; no blue, no red and white stripes. Just black armored fabric and a muted silver star on his chest, a reminder of who he is.

“Tony made it,” Steve says. “Why are we talking about my fucking uniform, Nat?”

“I need you to calm down,” Natasha says, and he rounds on her, furious.

“Calm down?” he snaps. “They have – they have my best friend, my partner and my _son_ and you want me to calm down?”

“I don’t want you to calm down,” she says. “I need you to.”

“Why,” he says and his tone is more callous than he’s heard from himself in a long time. “I’m going to rip them limb from limb when I get there. Doesn’t require being calm.”

“Your mission is to get the boys out of there safely,” Nat says, and her tone brooks no argument. “Bruce will lead on the tearing limb from limb. You get them out before they get hurt.” She reaches up to touch his cheek, looking him in the eye. “Please,” she says. “We go in guns blazing and it could all go terribly wrong. We need to be smart. The last thing you want is for Arto to be used as bait, or as a hostage, or for him to be taken back through the portal chamber. Calm down, be smart.”

And he knows she’s right. He knows it, but he doesn’t want it to be right. He’s tearing apart at the seams, everything inside him ripping up and in agony, and he needs to let it out, needs to make something hurt as much as he’s hurting.

But she’s right.

With that in mind, he shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. Thinks of Tony standing at his side, a reassuring nudge of an elbow, fingers casually brushing his hip.

He exhales and opens his eyes, and when he speaks he sounds more like himself again. “Okay. Thor, aerial recon the moment we get there. Clint I want-”

He stops as there’s a distressed wailing noise from the center console, and the jet lurches as a blinding light streaks by. Jane is almost flung from her seat; Thor leaps to his feet, Mjolnir in hand; Steve grabs hold of Nat and steadies them even as the jet levels out-

“You fucking asshole!” Clint shouts, and Steve catches up a moment later as his eyes lock onto the thing outside of the jet.

“Jerk!” Jane shouts angrily, settling back in her seat and pushing her hair back out of her face. “What is he doing here?”

Johnny Storm is fully lit up, streaking through the sky alongside them. He turns his face towards them and waves, before giving them a thumbs up.

“Backup from Reed,” Steve says, and he strides over to hit the button to disengage the back door. It opens with a howl of rushing wind, and moments later Storm is dropping back and jumping aboard, extinguishing his flames before he hits the floor.

“Hey guys,” he pants. “What’s going on? Reed said something about the kid causing inter-dimensional chaos?”

“Hydra,” Nat says as Steve closes the back door again. “They’ve taken Bucky, Tony and Arto. Tried to get Steve as well.”

“Are Hydra stupid?” Johnny asks, perplexed. “Did they not realize what would happen the moment they took those guys?”

“Stupid, desperate,” Nat says with a shrug. “And they didn’t bank on us being able to find them. Thank Clint and Bucky and their abuse of weapons grade tracking equipment for that.”

“So they don’t know we’re coming?” Johnny asks. “Awesome. What do you want me to do?”

Natasha looks at Steve, a wordless question. “This isn’t your fight,” Steve begins, but Johnny just rolls his eyes.

“My dearest brother-in-law had something to do with this fantastic fuck up, as per usual,” he says. “I’m helping. And besides, you’re my friends.”

Steve scrutinizes him for a moment and then nods, exhaling heavily and reordering his thoughts now he’s got an extra body to work with. “Okay, Thor. Aerial recon the moment we get there,” he says. “Jane. You’re staying here.”

“Excuse you?” she begins hotly. “I have been through trouble with _him_ enough times, and have helped saved the world more times than you know and you want me to _sit here_ like some sort of damsel in distress-?”

“No,” Steve says impatiently, not in the mood for soothing ruffled feathers or for arguing. “I want you to stay here so you can you use the comm array on the ship to hack into Hydra’s frequencies, and so you can shoot anyone who tries to board our jet.”

“Oh,” Jane says, and looks to Thor who just raises his eyebrows at her. “I guess I can do that,” she says, and to her credit she only sounds a little defensive.

“Bruce, you’re going in first.”

“First?” Bruce asks. “Won’t that draw a lot of attention?”

“I’m counting on it,” Steve says grimly. “Give them hell, but don’t go in. Draw them out. Then hopefully we should have more to work on when Thor has given us some recon, and we can slip in while they’re distracted with you. Clint and Nat, you are to go as a pair. Johnny, you’re with me. Thor, you stick with Bruce, and then take the lead on finding and destroying anything they have that is to do with Rebirth.”

“Gladly,” Thor says with an accepting nod.

Steve nods in return. He’s said his piece, and turns away to sit down heavily. His fingers flex unconsciously, aching for the feel of the shield in his hand. The others leave him alone and he’s glad.

He presses the heels of his palms against his eyes, hard enough to leave white spots dancing behind his eyelids. Swallowing hard, he fights down the sheer desperate fear that still lurks right under the surface. It’s easier when thinking about Tony or Bucky; they’re adults and Steve knows from experience that they can look after themselves. They’re Avengers, for fucks sake. This is part and parcel of it, not that it justifies it, or makes it better-

But Arto.

Arto is his baby, the child that he didn’t want to acknowledge, the child he was never ready for. The child he’s grown to love more fiercely than he thought possible.  

And if Steve doesn’t get him back. Well, he’s pretty sure that will be his super-villain origin story, because it will break him.

He draws in a shuddering breath, and pulls himself together as best he can. He will get Arto back, or he’ll die trying.

 

* * *

 

“Cap. Target in sight.”

The words have barely left Clint’s mouth before Steve is there, leaning between Clint and Jane to peer out of the front window. The landscape around them is arid and desolate, bleak and dusty. The only thing worthy of note is a single road leading up to a low sprawling building-

“Well that looks familiar,” Clint says, even as Steve curses.

“The facility from which we rescued Arto,” Thor says grimly. “I suspect this one will not be as empty as the last.”

“Fuck,” Steve repeats. “ _Fuck._ How did we miss this?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Clint says. “How close am I going?”

“Close as you can,” Steve says. “Alright team. We’ve been here before, so this makes it easier. Nat and Clint – elevators. Me and Johnny will take the stairwell again. Nineteen subterranean levels, and I’m guessing our boys are at the bottom. Jane, ask Jarvis to get you the schematics we downloaded from last time; can’t guarantee that they’ll be exactly the same but we might as well use what we’ve got.”

He strides over to the weapons compartment, yanks it open and pulls out his refitted ninety-forty Colt pistol and his handgun that technically was a Glock until Tony got his hands on it. He slips one into the holster on his thigh and keeps the other in hand as he stocks up on ammunition. That done, he turns to the rest of the team with an odd sense of finality.

“Comms on, everyone,” he says as the jet starts to descend, swaying slightly from side to side as it’s buffeted by air currents. The anxiety and fear in his chest tightens, and it somehow feels like it’s harder to breathe. “Jane, which channel?”

Jane leans over the console in the co-pilots seat. “Three,” she says, flicking a set of switches on. “Secure. If you lose comms, go to seven as backup, and then eleven as a last resort.”

No-one says anything as the jet lands, settling on the dry ground with a thud and the clunking of machinery. The door slowly lowers, flooding the back of the jet with light. Dust swirls around them, whipped up by the jet’s engines. They thud heavily as they wind down, whining as they die. Steve steps forwards into the light, jaw set tightly as he looks out towards the familiar outline of the building on front of them.

“Bruce,” he says. “On you.”

Bruce nods and edges past him, touching Steve's elbow as he passes. He walks slowly down the ramp, shielding his eyes against the sun and the wind.

In the distance an alarm starts to sound, a distressed wailing that punches into Steve’s chest with the memory of air-raid sirens. There’s a rumble and a roar, and his brain thinks of swooping shadows and bombs even as he watches Bruce surge into the Hulk right before his eyes.

The Hulk roars, the sound reverberating powerfully across the open space in front of them. Huge fists slam into the ground in challenge, and then he looks back towards Steve, waiting-

Steve nods curtly, and the Hulk lunges forwards. He’s at the base in one tremendous leap, rending the perimeter fence into pieces and then barreling into the doors. The alarm continues to wail and Steve sees another door burst open, soldiers pouring from the building. There’s a burst of gunfire, an answering bellow from the Hulk.

“Thor,” Steve says, but Thor is already there; he takes off with a rush of air, flying high and disappearing in the glare of the sun.

“Alright,” Steve says. “Let’s go.”

Without another word, he leaps from the back of the jet and hits the ground running. He knows he’ll be faster than Clint and Nat but he can’t afford to wait around. There’s a blast of heat on the side of his face as Johnny tears by, and he hits a group of soldiers who go up in a screaming ball of flames. Steve arrives seconds later and heads straight for the doors, ducking around the fire without slowing down, vaulting over a low concrete wall.

The first soldier to try and stop him doesn’t stand a chance. Most of the black-suited Hydra agents pouring from the building are instantly drawn to the chaos and carnage that the Hulk is wreaking a hundred yards away. However, a few have their attention caught by the fire and point at Johnny in alarm, and in turning towards him they notice Steve-

The soldier raises his gun, and Steve wrenches it from his hand and spins around, kicking the soldier in the face with as much force as he can muster. The body goes flying, hitting the sandy ground in a crumpled heap. There’s an angry shout, and several soldiers turn their guns on Steve but Johnny is already there, streaking past and melting the guns to slag in an instant. Crying out in pain, the soldiers scramble back away from the heat and in that split second Steve is on them. Several swift punches and one vicious kick and they’re all out.

Steve isn’t sure they’re ever going to get back up again, and he does not care one bit.

Johnny lands next to him, still fully lit up. “Hey, I make a pretty good human shield,” he yells. “Where is that, by the way?”

“Bucky has it,” Steve shouts back. “Get moving, to the stairwell.”

“You got it, Cap,” Johnny says, and he’s off again, heading straight for the doors and tearing through the soldiers in the doorway. The screams are terrible, but all it does is fuel the vicious hate in Steve’s chest, the burning need for revenge. He follows Johnny at a sprint, leaping through the flames licking at the doorway.

“We’re in,” he says into his comm, quickly scanning the room. It’s exactly the same – the computer terminals to one side, the walkway above their heads and the doors at each side. “Jane, so far it’s matching. Nat?”

“We’re right behind you,” she says.

“There are many soldiers coming from barracks to the south,” Thor’s voice says. “Hulk and I shall take care of them.”

“Good,” Steve says. “We’re heading for the stairwell.”

Even as he says it, there’s an ominous whirring behind him and before he can turn a blast of blue light rushes past him, the force of it almost knocking him off balance. The surge of light hits the wall behind, dissolving a huge chunk into nothingness.

“Are you fucking kidding me,” Steve snarls, and his gun is in hand.  There’s a soldier in a huge metal frame of some sort, holding a gun as long as a person that’s glowing with a horribly familiar blue light from a power cell on the bottom. “STORM!” he bellows. “Get rid of that!”

The gun whines again, the blue power cell flickering threateningly. Luckily, it’s not as quick as Johnny who simply plows into the frame, pulling it apart easily. He reaches for the gun and as his fingers brush the power cell there’s an explosion, a frightening surge of blue and orange flames, the force of which sends Steve staggering back even where he stands fifty feet away on the other side of the floor.

Flying across the room with a strangled yell, Johnny hits the floor with all his flames extinguished. Steve steps over and grabs him, hauling him to his feet. “You okay?”

Johnny nods, shaking his head violently. “I’m good, I’m good,” he says. “Keep moving.”

There’s the crack of gunfire and they both duck as a bullet zips past their heads; Steve wheels around with gun drawn; four soldiers drop in quick succession.

“I didn’t think Captain America could shoot people?” Johnny says as Steve pushes him towards the stairwell.

“Second amendment,” Steve says, firing at a soldier who is up on the walkway. He misses and curses, but then the soldier jolts and stumbles, and Steve spots the arrow that’s embedded in their chest.

“Thank you, Hawkeye,” Steve says as the soldier slumps to the metal floor of the walkway.

“Got your back, Cap,” Clint says, sounding tense. “We’re in.”

“Jane, both teams going underground,” Steve says. “Thor, keep the action up here as best you can.”

“Understood,” Thor replies calmly, even as Steve hears the clang of Mjolnir hitting its mark and the roaring of Hulk, distorted and tinny over the comms.

“Nat, we’re more likely to draw attention,” Steve says as he and Johnny run for the stairwell. “Don’t engage unless you absolutely have to, and get down to the lower levels.”

“Yes boss,” Nat replies, sounding breathless.

“Go,” Steve says to Johnny, who immediately vaults the top of the stairwell, shouting _‘flame on!’_ as he goes. The entire stairwell lights up, and Steve leaps down the first set of stairs in one go, lunging for the next as fast as he can. He can’t shove away the panicked thoughts that keep slicing across his mind, pictures of Tony and Arto injured and hurt, of Bucky being pinned down and subjected to whatever Hydra have in store-

He leaps down the fifth set and crashes straight into a group of soldiers running the other way, ending up sprawled on the ground. He can hear Johnny yelling in the background, and the heat is becoming unbearable. He grunts and reaches for the nearest agent; he twists their arm around with a sickening crunch and then drags them into a headlock, snapping their neck without hesitation.  

There’s a crack and he feels a thud like a punch to his chest; the bullet is stopped by the armor of the suit. He kicks out at the hand holding the gun and wrenches the ankle of another agent around. In one motion he presses his shoulder back into the concrete and flips himself up, swiftly kicking the downed agents in the face to make sure they don’t get back up again.

“You jumped right into that one-” Johnny says, and then cries out as there’s a deafening boom and the whole stairwell judders under their feet.

“Not me,” Johnny says, holding his hands up.

“Johnny, do not go any further,” Jane’s voice suddenly says over the comms, urgent. “If this is like the last place, it runs on a form of nuclear energy and your heat could blow the entire thing.”

“Get topside,” Steve instructs immediately. “Go and help clear the upper levels and make sure no-one gets at the jet.”

“Okay,” Johnny says. “Okay, you got it.”

And he doesn’t question it, doesn’t ask if Steve will be alright without backup. He just goes, streaking back up the middle of the stairwell and vanishing from sight, leaving Steve in darkness.

“Clint, what floor are you on?”

“Lower sixth,” Clint’s voice comes back. “Met a bunch of bastards that think they can stop us.”

“What floor was Arto on when you found him?” Steve says, already moving lower and lower, letting instinct guide him.

“Lower nineteen,” Clint replies, sounding frustrated. “Very bottom.”

Steve doesn’t answer; he’s on lower tenth floor now, so has nine more floors to get down-

There’s a shout and a doorway just behind him bursts open. Bullets pepper the wall behind him as he runs, and there’s another glow of blue light-

He jumps the wall without a second thought just as the Hydra weapon blasts a gaping hole in the stairwell and then his brain catches up and he realizes he _doesn’t have his fucking shield._ He twists around and grabs for a ledge; he manages to catch himself on the eighteenth floor and gasps in pain, feeling like his shoulder has just been ripped out of its socket. His body crashes painfully against the concrete and his fingers slip; he falls the rest of the way and hits the ground on his back, the wind knocked out of him.

“Fuck,” he gasps, wincing. He blinks hard to try and get the dark spots in front of his vision to shift, trying to focus in the darkness of the lower levels.

“Can anyone read me?” he asks, and curses as he gets no response. The ground judders beneath him and he pushes himself up, staggering towards the doors. He bursts through just at the wrong moment; a bullet catches him in the shoulder, the pain sharp and angry. Roaring in anger, he lunges forwards and grabs hold of the person responsible, but it’s not a soldier, it’s a technician, a young man holding a gun in shaking hands.

“Where is he?” Steve snarls, shaking the man like a rag doll. He tightens his grip on the man’s neck.

“Next lab,” the man says, terrified. “God, please don’t hurt me-”

Steve throws him aside, heart twisting agonizingly inside his chest. He snatches up the gun and runs, running towards the next set of doors and feeling close to screaming. If Arto is hurt he’s never going to forgive himself, he doesn’t want to even think about breathing without Arto-

He shoves through the doors and his entire world stops. In a fraction of a second everything twists upside down, his chest feeling like it’s rending in two.

Arto is there.

He’s in some sort of pen in the corner of the lab, two walls of glass separating him from the rest of the white-tiled, sterile room. He’s lying on his side with his back to Steve, curled up with his hands clamped over his ears; there are scratches down the backs of his arms and there’s a tiny bloody handprint on the glass between them.

“Arto,” Steve says distantly, and then he makes himself move. “Arto!”

Arto moves. The moment Steve shouts his name he’s moving, and he’s struggling to his feet and turning around, and when he sees Steve he screams and hurls himself towards the glass. He bangs his fists against it, sobbing.

“Steve,” he cries. “Steve, help.”

And Steve is there in seconds, and he’s crying, he knows he is; he can feel the tears sliding down his face even though he’s not making a sound. “Arto, Arto, I’m here,” he says, pressing himself to the glass and looking around for the door, an opening. “Arto, I’ve got you, you’re okay.”

Arto screams again, kicking bare feet against the glass. A couple of his toes are bleeding, and he’s got signs of a recent nosebleed, and there are more scratches on his neck, on his cheek, and it looks like they're self inflicted-

“Arto get back,” Steve says. “Arto, move!”

Arto doesn’t listen, just sobs and sobs and tries to claw his way through the glass and Steve can’t bear it for a second longer. He stands up and punches the glass window with all his strength; it cracks like a gunshot, a spiderweb of cracks radiating out from where his fist hit.  Arto screams and Steve punches the glass again; it shatters, the whole wall falling in a cascade of glittering shards-

Arto flings himself at Steve, knocking him backwards. Steve drops to his knees and pulls Arto up to him, and he’s holding his breath as Arto clings to him, eyes clenched shut as tears slip down his face and he feels the frantic thump of that tiny heartbeat next to his own.

“I got you,” he says, and raises a shaking, blood stained hand to cup the back of Arto’s head. “Arto, I got you.”

There’s a shout from beyond the next set of doors and it hits Steve like an electric shock.  He staggers upright, holding Arto to him with one arm.

“Hold on,” he instructs. “Arto, hold on and don’t let go.”

Arto nods, swallowing convulsively and trying to hold in his sobs. He looks terrified, and Steve doesn’t want to know what he’s seen to put that look on his face. He bends to grab the gun from the holster on his thigh and walks towards the door.

“Don’t look,” he says. “Arto, shut your eyes and don’t look.”

Arto buries his face in Steve’s neck and Steve draws in a shuddering breath of his own. “Atta boy,” he says, and then he kicks through the door and quickly shoots the three technicians on the other side dead. He scans the room for any more threats, and then raises a shaking hand to the comm unit.

“Team, I’ve got Arto,” he says, and promptly gets cursed at in three different languages for his trouble.

“Is he okay?” Clint demands, as Natasha carries on cursing relieved and angry Russian into his ear. “Steve, is he fucking okay-?!”

“Alive, conscious, just scared,” Steve says. “I’m getting him out. Someone get down here and find Tony.”

“I’m coming inside to assist,” Thor says. “Storm shall take my position-”

“I’ve got into Hydra’s comms,” Jane suddenly interrupts, sounding triumphant. “Bucky is on eleventh, he’s out of containment and giving them hell-”

“That’s my boy,” Clint cackles. “Two down, one to go.”

“Jane, any word on Tony?” Steve asks urgently.

“Prisoners on tenth - Cap, they’ve got Lilya, she’s here.”

“Nat, get the prisoners out. Clint, go find Bucky. If he’s hurt get him out, if he’s not, help him clear that floor and work your way down,” Steve instructs. “Jane, try and find any word on Tony.”

“Steve, he’s-”

There’s a crackle and hiss of static, and then the comms go dead.

“Jane?”

There’s a click, and a hum, and then from the ceiling a voice calls out, echoing slightly against the tiled floors and ceiling of the lab.

“All this goddamn noise I can hear better be an Avengers-shaped rescue party, or Hydra doing something catastrophically wrong because you’ve already established today that you are complete morons-”

A strangled noise escapes Steve’s throat because that’s _Tony’s_ voice talking over the intercom, sounding equal parts bored and annoyed. Arto lets out a shriek that’s closer to Tony’s name than what Steve managed. Staggering to his feet, Steve grabs Arto and looks around frantically; he sees what he’s looking for on the wall near the door.

He lunges for what he assumes is an intercom panel, jabbing at buttons hard enough to dent the metal casing it’s in.

“Fuck - Tony?” he tries, voice cracking. “Tony? Tony?”

“Oh my god, Steve.” This time Tony’s voice comes through the speaker in the panel, and all of his front is gone, replaced by sheer giddy relief. “Where are you - where’s Arto-?”

“I’ve got him,” Steve says, and Arto leans forwards, almost tumbling out of Steve’s arms.

“Here, I’m here!”

“I got him,” Steve says. “I got him.”

“Oh thank fuck,” Tony’s says. “Is he okay? Art, are you okay?”

“No,” Arto says, voice shaking. “Tony.”

“He’s fine, shaken up but fine,” Steve says, and he hears Tony exhale shakily.

“Bucky, they said they’d got Bucky, and they said they were taking you-”

“Tried but didn’t get me,” Steve says. “They got Bucky, but he’s got himself out and causing hell. Tony - where are you?”

“Nineteenth, in the basement,” Tony says. “You might want to come and get me. It’s kind of flooding down here.”

“Why the fuck did you not start with that?” Steve shouts in disbelief.

“I wanted to check you were okay and you’d got Arto!” Tony shouts back. “But yeah, there’s water up to my knees and it’s getting higher.”

“You fucking idiot, wasting time-”

“You’re wasting time telling me I was wasting time! Yell at me later, come and get me!”

“Stay where you are,” Steve instructs. “We’re coming.”

He hitches Arto up and heads for the door, keeping his gun in his free hand. He knows strategically it would be easier with Arto on his back so he had both hands free, but it’ll be safer for Arto this way around.

Heart pounding, he makes it through the laboratory complex with ease, and is only stopped by a heavy metal door that says ACCESS over it in large letters. He shoves at the door with his shoulder and it doesn’t budge; he curses in frustration.

“Art, I’m gonna need you to get down,” he says unsteadily, and Arto tightens his grip on him.

“No,” he begs. His teeth are chattering and he sounds like he’s a hairs breadth from sobbing again. “Steve.”

“I know, but I need both hands to get through this door because Tony’s through there,” Steve says, despairing as Arto starts to cry again. “Art, he’s okay, but I need to get through this door-”

There’s an ominous groan from the building around them, a distant rumble and a faint shower of dust from the ceiling. Steve curses internally, and drops to his knees beside the door.

“Arto. I need you to let go for a minute,” he says, shifting on his knees and trying to push Arto back. There’s another muted bang from somewhere in the complex, and Arto gasps, clinging to Steve even harder. He can hear a dull roaring and the distant rattle of a firefight, and wonders who it is. “No, listen to me-”

“No,” Arto sobs. “No, Steve, don’t-”

“Arto, listen to me,” Steve shouts. “We in are in trouble here. There are bad guys, and they are trying to hurt us. I need you to let go, and I need you to let me go so I can get through this door.”

“No,” Arto sobs again, fingers clutching at Steve's arms.

“Arto, I need you to help me here,” Steve says, forcing himself to keep the desperation out of his voice. There’s a huge thud somewhere behind the doors they’ve just come through and Arto looks over Steve’s shoulder, terrified. “Arto look at me. I will take care of you, I won’t let anything hurt you.” Arto hiccups through a sob, wide eyes on Steve’s. Steve laughs, close to tears, reaching up to hold onto Arto’s face. “I love you so much,” he says. “And you are the bravest person I know. Braver than Clint. Braver than Bucky. Braver than me. And I need you to let go so we can get through this door and get to Tony and keep him safe as well.”

And Arto nods, even through his tears. He nods and Steve leans in to kiss his forehead, eyes screwing up tightly with emotion. “Okay you’re gonna sit right here,” he says. “You just need to stay here and stay safe, and if anyone that isn’t Tony comes through this door when I open it, you run.”

Arto nods again, shaky. Steve gently pushes him back, and Arto goes with a whimper. He settles back against the wall, and Steve hates it with every fiber of his being, he needs to grab Arto and run but he can’t-

There’s a crash from outside the room, and Arto flinches.

“Be brave,” Steve says, hands on Arto’s knees. “What do you do if someone comes through the door?”

“I run,” Arto says, voice shaking violently. “I run.”

“Atta boy,” Steve says. “And remember, you’re stronger than most of the soldiers here. If any of them catch up with you, you hurt them as much as you fucking can.”

“Hurt them more than they hurt me,” Arto says, and Steve grabs his hand and presses a kiss to his fingers.

“You got it,” he says, and he forces himself to move back. Arto clamps his hands over his ears, and he’s making a high-pitched keening noise, eyes wide and fearful. “Alright,” Steve breathes out, and he turns his attention to the door. He shoves at it with his shoulder again and it creaks but doesn’t give, and he curses and feels around the edge for some sort of lip or edge, but it’s perfectly smooth.

Frustrated, he lets out a shout and punches the door as hard as he can. It buckles, the edge bending out and giving him a slight edge to grip onto. Breathing heavily, he does it again and the metal bends even further, and then he’s got both hands gripping the edge of the door, pulling as hard as he can.

It gives, edging forwards slightly. Gritting his teeth, Steve pulls and pulls and the door opens several inches, resisting every little bit of the way-

There’s a thump behind his knees and he nearly lets go of the door in panic as he sees Arto scrambling over. Before Steve can say anything Arto is grabbing hold of the edge of the door and helping pull, his small tear stained face screwed up with the effort.

“That’s it, pull,” Steve pants. “Come on, we got this-”

The door suddenly gives with a horrendous screech of metal and the grinding of hidden machinery. Arto staggers and falls back, and Steve whips around to check there’s no-one beyond the door. It’s empty; all he can see is a set of steps that lead down into a dimly lit corridor. The bottom few stairs are covered with lapping water and his stomach twists because this must be where Tony is.

Pulse skipping madly, he steps back to scoop Arto up. Arto meets him halfway reaching for Steve and scrambling into his arms.

“I told you to stay where you were,” Steve says, voice thick and wavering as he holds Arto to him, but he can’t be angry. He strokes over the back of Arto’s head with a fumbling, blood-stained hand and wishes violently that they were home and safe.

“I help,” Arto says against his shoulder, voice choked with tears. “Tony.”

Steve doesn't wait to be reminded again. “Okay, swing around,” he says, and he helps Arto shift around until he’s on his back, holding on with skinny arms around Steve’s neck and knees digging into his waist. It leaves both his hands free, though he’s hyper aware of any noise and threats that could come from behind. Slowly, he steps down into the water, his boots and armored uniform keeping him dry.

He doesn’t need to tell Arto to be quiet; he’s absolutely silent save for his rapid breathing. He reaches the bottom of the stairs and the water is up around his waist and starting to seep in through the seams of his uniform, cold and unforgiving. As he moves forwards a light above them flickers, humming with electricity, and Arto flinches.

“Shhhh, you’re okay,” Steve murmurs, one hand on the wall and the other holding tightly onto his gun. “You’re okay.”

There corridor turns at a right angle and Steve carefully edges around; his heart leaps up into his throat as he sees a body floating face down in the water, but it’s just a Hydra agent, still and lifeless.

“Don’t look,” Steve says quickly to Arto. “Arto, head down.”

Arto does as he’s told, pressing his face to the back of Steve’s neck. Steve can feel his rapid breaths hot against his skin as he edges past the agent and keeps on going. The lights here are only half working, and the water looks dark and threatening, the smooth grey concrete walls making the space feel confined and claustrophobic.

He steps forwards and his whole body jolts as there’s suddenly nothing under his foot; he curses and grabs for the wall, but luckily his foot hits solid ground not six inches deeper. It's just another set of steps leading downwards, and he mentally curses at the frantic bird-wing fluttering of his heart. He's not been this on edge and jumpy on a mission ever, though he can understand why he's as such this time around. Angry at himself for not being careful, he feels forwards with his boot to check if there are more steps; there’s at least one more which is not what he wanted, because that means deeper water for them and he still has no idea how much further it is until he finds Tony.

“Fuck,” he curses, but there’s nothing for it. He looks around, and then decides to hell with being discreet; he's running out of patience and they're running out of time if the rumbling noises around them are any indication. “Tony!” he shouts, and the word echos oddly, distorted by the water. “Tony!”

“Steve!”

And the answering shout is closer than he could have hoped, and he nearly collapses with relief. He edges down the set of steps; Arto gasps as the water comes up over his feet and Steve grits his teeth and carries on. There are only a few steps but the water ends up around his chest, lapping at the star on his stealth suit.

“Cold,” Arto whispers, teeth chattering.

“I know, buddy,” Steve replies, not exactly a fan of the icy sensation himself. He pushes the memories away, raises his voice. “Tony, where are you?”

“Enjoying a night of five star Hydra accommodation,” Tony shouts back, and he sounds exhausted. “Though I think something in my room is leaking.”

“You are not funny,” Steve yells back. “Come towards us.”

“Can’t,” Tony’s voice calls. “Chained to a pipe.”

“Alright, I’m coming,” Steve calls. Behind him, Arto is whispering Tony’s name and sounding distressed. Steve pushes forwards through the water, and his throat is too tight and for a moment it’s almost unbearable. He reaches a door that’s half open and pushes through it, and Arto shrieks behind him because _Tony is there_ , in the corner of the room and looking like hell.

“Took your time,” he says, swallowing hard. He’s got one arm looped around a heavy metal pipe that runs vertically up the wall, and is paler than Steve has ever seen him. He’s got a gash across his forehead and a bruise already darkening around his eye, and he’s shivering just like Arto is. The water is up around his chest, just covering the arc reactor; Steve can see the blue glowing eerily just under the surface of the water. Behind him there’s some sort of control panel in the wall, red lights glowing malevolently across the side of Tony’s face, and Steve would bet his last dollar that Tony somehow used that panel to hijack the intercom system before.

“Jesus, Tony-” Steve hears himself say, and he’s lunging forwards through the water, trying to get to Tony as quickly as fucking possible without dislodging Arto, and when he’s close enough Tony reaches for him, fingers spread as he leans across the space-

Steve grabs hold of his hand and crashes into him, grabbing him tightly. Tony clings to him, chest heaving against Steve’s as he clutches him tight, face buried in his neck. Arto kicks at Steve and then scrambles around, trying to get over his shoulder to Tony; when he can’t he simply lets go of Steve and slides into the water, vanishing under the surface. Steve lets out a strangled yell and grabs for him, yanking Tony forwards as he does, but Arto resurfaces a moment later, reaching for Tony and grabbing hold of his shirt, pulling himself up against him.

“Don’t do that,” Steve half shouts, so full of adrenaline and sheer dizzy relief and still a healthy amount of fear, because he’d got them both safe but needs to get them out-

As if to remind him of that fact, what feels like the entire building judders around them; there’s a crack and then over by the door several pieces of concrete fall from the ceiling, splashing into the water.

“Hey there Smart-Art,” Tony says, voice shaking as he holds Arto to him, face pressed against wet hair and tears tracking silently down his cheek. “We got you.”

“Want to go home,” Arto cries, and Tony screws up his face against the same emotion that Steve feels.

“Me too buddy,” he says thickly, and then looks up at Steve. “Glad to see you.”

“Likewise,” Steve says, as if he can every find the words to show how he actually feels. He reaches out, cups Tony’s face with his hand. “You hurt?”

“Few scrapes and bruises,” Tony says, still shaking with the cold.. “Managed to take out the one guard they left me with, but I can’t get out of the chain on my ankle-”

He doesn’t even finish the sentence.  There’s an almighty roar of noise and a blast of sound, and the entire building jolts as if there’s been an earthquake. The ceiling cracks even further and a chunk of concrete crashes free right above them, the pipes ripped away from the wall as it tumbles-

Steve moves without thinking, lunging forwards and catching the weight of the back across his shoulders. The water roils around them, and he can hear more water rushing into the space, pouring from the mangled pipes. Water surges up across his face and his feet slip; he grunts with effort and shoves up back against the weight on his shoulders, gasping.

“Steve!”

“Go,” Steve manages to bite out. “Tony-”

“I’m still stuck-” Tony says, and his voice is steady but there’s something horrible in his expression, white-faced and tight. Arto is clinging to him, arms tight around his neck. He swallows hard and then turns away from Steve, looking away to talk to Arto. “Okay, Arto you need to swim, right, you can swim, yeah? You’re gonna swim back the way you came and Steve is going to follow-”

“No,” Steve says. “Tony, don’t you dare-”

“We don't have any other fucking options,” Tony shouts at him, even as the rushing water swirls up towards his chin. “You take him and you go-”

“No,” Arto suddenly shouts. “No, let me go, let me go-”

Steve grits his teeth with the force of holding the ceiling up. “Arto-”

“I let you go and you swim for the door, right?” Tony is saying roughly, trying to make Arto look at him. “Arto, you listen to me-”

“I swim, I can swim, I can swim, I can swim,” Arto is repeating over and over, frantic. “I strong enough, I can swim, I brave-”

“Yeah, you are,” Tony says, and he looks at Steve with something final in his eyes as he lets go of Arto.

“No-” Steve screams, but Arto is swimming away, kicking away from Tony towards the door-

He gets a few meters away, and then he stops. He stops and Tony is screaming at him to keep going, and Steve can’t breathe, and Arto is taking a huge breath and ducking under the water, vanishing from sight.

“No!” Tony yells, and he’s fighting against the chain on his ankle. He chokes as water splashes up into his mouth, eyes wild and desperate. “Arto!”

And Steve wants to scream because he can’t do anything - if he lets go then Tony will be crushed or drowned, but if he doesn’t then Arto could drown and he can’t choose, this isn’t _fair_ -

“Steve, go,” Tony is begging, frantic. “Steve, find him and go-”

“Not without you,” Steve shouts at him, furious and panicked and desperate-

“Get him and go,” Tony screams, and then without warning he’s yanked backwards and under the water, vanishing into inky blackness, and Steve bellows his name but he’s not there and Arto is nowhere to be seen and Steve would rather drown than face the world without them, he's looking back and forth for movement, for bubbles, for the glow of the reactor but there's nothing, and his heart is beyond breaking, it feels like it's been ripped clean from his body-

And out of nowhere, Tony and Arto break the surface a few meters away, surging upwards through the water. Tony is gasping and Arto is panting, treading water in front of Tony.

“ _Go!_ ” Steve bellows, and Tony doesn’t have to be told twice. He shoves at Arto and they both start swimming, heading towards the door. He can hear Arto shouting his name in a frantic voice but he’s got to keep going, Tony has got to keep him going. The water rises up over his chin and he tries to tip his head back but he can’t; praying that Tony and Arto are far enough away, he twists around to brace a foot against the wall, takes a deep breath and then pushes himself away.

The ceiling collapses. Underwater, Steve can hear the muffled sounds of the roof cracking and crashing into the water. He kicks away hard, cutting through the water and trying to get to safety, to find Tony and Arto.

He breaks the surface and is barely able to take a breath before something hard and heavy hits the back of his shoulder. It shoves him back down under the water and he gasps reflexively at the pain, but his lungs fill up with ice-cold water and all he can think is _not again, not like this-_

Hands are grabbing at his arms and he grasps hold as he’s pulled bodily out of the water. Tony has one arm and Arto the other, and they’re half pulling half dragging him up the steps towards the access door, and he tries to help and climb the steps but he’s still trying to breathe and his head is spinning-    

The three of them tumble through the access door, landing on the floor in a sprawl of limbs. Steve pushes himself upright and is promptly knocked over backwards by Arto who flings himself at him, skinny arms around his neck.

“I swim,” he says into Steve’s ear, panting and clutching him so tightly he can't get a proper breath. “I swim and I break the thing.”

And Steve can’t even process what he’s hearing, that it’s _Arto_ who managed to save them both, and Steve could kill someone for the fact that it’s Arto who had to do that; he’s six fucking years old and he’s managed to save Tony’s life, it's killing Steve that he was forced into that position, that he had to save Tony's life and he put himself in danger to do it-

“You are grounded for the rest of your life,” Tony is saying, unsteadily clambering to his knees and shoving at Steve until he sits up, wrapping his arms around them both. “Never going outside again.”

“No, I help,” Arto is saying, and he’s crying again. “I help, I break the thing.”

“You did and you were wonderful but you should have swam, I told you to swim away,” Tony is saying, and he’s squeezing Steve and Arto so tightly it hurts.

_“- fourth - get to the stairs - fire on eighteen-”_

Hope surges in Steve’s chest at the sound of broken words in his ear. “Jane?” he shouts, reaching up to his comm. “Do you read?”

“Steve!” Jane cries. “Oh god, Steve, where are you?”

“Nineteenth,” Steve says. “I’ve got Tony and Arto, where is everyone else?”

"Bucky and Natasha have found the man in charge, they’re bringing him out and securing intel,” Jane says. “Thor and Hulk are dealing with heavy artillery on ground, but I have no idea where Johnny and Clint are-”

“Okay, we’re coming up.”

“There’s a fire on eighteenth and the elevator shaft is blocked,” Jane says. “You’ll have to use the stairs or-”

The last of the sentence crackles out and Steve swears. “Jane, we’re on the way,” he says. “Come on-”

“Wait, you’re hurt,” Tony says, and his fingers brush along Steve’s shoulder. “You’ve been _shot_ -”

“I love you, but _not now,_ ” Steve says, and he takes a deep breath and pushes himself to his knees and then climbs to his feet. He reaches out and heaves Tony up too, grasping his hand tightly. He hitches Arto up and adjusts his grip on Tony’s hand.

“Let's get the hell out of here.”

Tony nods tersely, gripping Steve’s fingers tightly. “Cap, you read my mind.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I can't even think of what to say here because I'm so emotionally attached to this dumb story that I started about fifty million years ago. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read the frankly ridiculous amount of words about the trials and tribulations of Daddy Rogers and his baby super-soldier. Seriously. Thank you so much.
> 
> Extra thanks to the people who have cheerleadeded, flailed with me, proof-read and helped me get this done. Special thanks to Liz, who takes excellent care of her pet writer even when said pet writer is a pain in the ass.
> 
> (Ideas for this verse? Prompts? Headcanons? Yes please. [My askbox welcomes you.](http://captn-sara-holmes.tumblr.com/))

“What happened, how did you find us? Did Jarvis trace the armor?”

Steve skids to a halt at the corner of a wall, still holding onto both Arto and Tony’s hand. Tony slides right into him, steadying himself with a hand on Steve’s elbow and trying to look past him around the corner. Steve shoves him back; he can’t hear anything, but he doesn’t dare edge around until he knows it’s safe. With a warning look, he lets go of Tony’s hand and turns, passing Arto over. Arto doesn’t protest, just lets himself he handed over and clings onto Tony, shivering in the cool air. They’re all still soaked, dripping water from their hair, clothes sodden and clinging uncomfortably.

“No,” Steve says, and he reaches for his gun again, clicking the safety off. “Clint tracked Bucky.”

“Barton tracked - I’m not even going to ask,” Tony says. Steve whips around the corner, gun raised, but the corridor is empty. He jerks his head and he and Tony run the length of the corridor towards the labs and the stairwell. The faint taste of smoke catches in the back of throat, heightening the urgency to get out.

“Why the hell were you down here if Bucky was on eleventh?” Steve asks him as they move back into the lab complex, passing swiftly through white-tiled rooms.

“I _was_ with Bucky, but they caught me mid-pulling wires out of the wall so decided to move me to somewhere where I couldn’t trip the security and let him out.”

“But you got into the intercom panel-”

“Yeah, Hydra are dumb,” Tony says. “Though my options with that panel in the basement were limited.”

“You did just fine,” Steve says, fiddling with his comm unit and switching to the backup channel. “Jane, can you hear me? _Jane?_ ”

There’s no reply; Steve keeps calm and tries the last resort channel, and thankfully, he gets through to her.

“Steve? Steve, I’ve got you, but you’re breaking up,” her voice says, sounding distant and crackly. “Steve, I don’t know if you can hear me. We’ve got incoming and it looks like AIM carriers - must have called for backup - says he’ll deal with it. Natasha and Bu- got Lilya and Este out and - pretty bad shape - can’t get hold of Clint-”

“Jane?” Steve says, stomach twisting even as he checks the door and bundles Tony and Arto through. “Jane?!”

“What’s happening?” Tony asks, hurrying behind him and hitching Arto up as he goes.

“AIM have showed up, they found the missing scientists and Clint has gone fucking walkabout _again_ ,” Steve says as he strides towards the next set of doors. “I’m going to kill - Tony, _what are you fucking doing?!_ ”

Unbelievably, Tony has stopped. Instead of moving towards the doors, he’s stationary beside one of the computer terminals in the lab, kicking the chair aside and turning the console on, swinging Arto to the floor beside him. “If this will turn on and is online I can find my armor-”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Steve yells, and backtracks, grabbing hold of Tony’s arm. “You have enough armor at home, we need to go-”

“Get off,” Tony snaps and wrenches his arm free. “You have been shot and you’re limping and you don’t have your goddamn shield. Give me thirty seconds to find my damn armor.”

“The building is going to collapse,” Steve shouts even as the computer lights up and Tony swipes his fingers across the screen. “Tony!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Tony is saying, wiping his hand across his face. “Either give me ten seconds or take Arto and go.”

“Did you miss the part where I said I’m not going without you?!” Steve says, and he’s fighting down the urge to bodily carry Tony from the building. Conscious or unconscious; he’s rapidly heading towards not caring which it is, as long as it means he can get him out.

“Tony,” Arto pleads, and he pulls at his shirt. “Tony, lets go, we need to go-”

“Steve, take him,” Tony says, glancing at Arto as he types, fingers flying across the keyboard, windows springing up on the screen before him. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Fuck you!” Steve shouts, beyond furious. “I am not leaving without you! I am not doing this without you, are you crazy? We are a fucking family together and we could be leaving together and you’re risking it for-”

“I am risking it because I want to do everything I can to get you two out of here in one piece!” Tony stands up and shouts back, shoving at Steve’s shoulder. “You would do the same if there were some way of-”

“No!” Arto suddenly screams, and he shoves at Tony and then turns to shove at Steve, pummeling his leg with clenched fists. “No shouting!”

Tony’s jaw literally drops. Steve steps back and leans down to grab Arto’s hands, but Arto just wrenches free and tries to hit him again, bursting into fresh tears. Steve kneels down and roughly pulls Arto into a hug, all the fight knocked out of him. Luckily Arto just slumps into him, crying so hard he’s coughing. Steve looks to Tony, trying to find some way of making him understand, trying to get him to move-

Defiant and apologetic all at once, Tony looks up at him and then he turns away and reaches for the keyboard. Steve feels his temper rising like an eruption, ready to blow, but Tony simply taps the enter key and then leans back.

“Done,” Tony says, leaning down to to look over the screen, eyes intense. With the single word, Steve’s temper recedes, though in its wake it leaves him feeling brittle and snappish, even more so than he was before. “Seventh floor. I told you it would only-”

“Finish that sentence and I will not be held accountable for my actions,” Steve says tersely, swinging Arto up into his arms. “Lets go.”

Tony leads the way, Steve’s gun in hand. They run the length of the lab, passing the smashed glass that marks the moment where Steve had broken Arto out of his cage, past the bodies of the technicians and to the stairwell. It’s full of smoke, and Steve can’t see up more than a couple of floors.

“Right behind you,” Tony urges, and Steve makes for the stairs, taking them four at a time and ignoring the throbbing pain in his shoulder and chest. Arto starts to cough, and Steve wishes he had some way of shielding him from the steadily thickening smoke, the acrid burning that’s catching in the back of his throat.

They pass the slumped bodies of more Hydra agents, and Steve spots arrows sticking out of the motionless figures. He points to Tony who nods, breathing heavily and looking determined.

“Arto first,” he says. “If he’s still missing we come find him after.”

Steve nods tightly and carries on going. The stairwell is partially blocked on eleventh and there looks like there’s been a hell of a firefight; Steve’s stomach twists over again because this level of carnage and violence has Bucky written all over it. He takes a deep breath and keeps going, up and up through the floors. The heat becomes unbearable around the eighth floor, stifling and oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

“Eighth, and seventh-” Tony pants. “Steve, here-”

There’s a crack of gunfire and Steve feels a burning pain in the back of his leg. Arto screams and Tony is shouting something at him; Steve staggers and almost hits the floor on his knees but momentum keeps him going, and there’s answering gunfire and his heart is in his mouth-

Heart pounding and leg aching fiercely, he climbs another floor and shoves through the door, jostling Arto in his arms as he does. The floor is empty, and he’s surrounded by banks of machinery and generators, and he turns around to speak to Tony-

Tony is gone.

“Tony?” he yells, but there’s no answer. He goes cold with dread, sweat prickling the back of his neck as he stumbles to a stop. For the first time in a long time he feels utterly paralyzed with indecision, not knowing whether to go back for Tony or if he should find a way out with Arto-

Noise from through the next set of doors makes him freeze in place, every muscle in his body going tense. Arto makes a high pitched sound, pulling at the collar of his stealth suit and Steve shushes him sharply. Limping slightly, he slowly walks forwards step by careful step. Arto is barely breathing, clinging on tightly and facing the doors, cheek pressed to Steve's and eyes wide.

Steve cautiously pushes through the door and his eyes settle on the familiar looking structure in the middle of the room, the huge box that looks almost identical to the one that sits inside the Baxter Building.

The portal chamber.

Fuck. He needs Tony here for this - he’s only got the barest of ideas how the damn thing works and save for pulling it apart with his bare hands he doesn't know how to deactivate it.

Though if what Vasquez said was true, he’s too late and someone has already been brought through. Someone who could help Hydra achieve their aim of building super-soldiers. His stomach drops unpleasantly, because his mind immediately jumps to Zola and the Red Skull-

There’s a metallic thunk and he whips around, heart hammering. Every part of him is praying that it’s Tony, and his heart leaps as from behind the chamber comes a flash of red and gold armor, and then Iron Man steps out into the light-

Wait.

It’s not right.

It’s red and gold Iron Man armor that’s standing in front of him, but it’s _not right_. Gold fingers instead of red, black flashings across the shoulders of the suit, plating arranged in a way Steve has never seen before. And it was the briefcase armor that Tony has with him, and this is definitely not the briefcase armor-

The armor takes a step forwards, and Steve takes a step back.

“Who are you?” he asks, the steadiness of his voice betraying how he feels inside. “I know you’re not Tony Stark, so who the hell are you?”

The armor shifts slightly, weight transferring from foot to foot. It’s silent, the faceplate surveying Steve dispassionately. The alarm bells in Steve’s mind ratchet up a notch as the silence pulls taut, and he notices that the light shining from what should be the arc reactor isn’t the right shade, it’s slightly off and completely wrong.

“Who are you?” he repeats slowly, unsure as to whether it’s a friend or enemy standing before him.

The faceplate flips up and Arto starts to scream.

Steve sees dark eyes and his immediately thought is that it’s _Amir,_ but a fraction of a second later he realizes it’s not. That coupled with Arto’s screaming connects the dots lightning fast in his brain; the person Vasquez was talking about, the person with the knowledge of the serum who Hydra brought through to help-

“Doctor Sampson.”

The doctor simply smiles. Steve is shaking with anger because he’s standing there in Tony’s armor, in Tony’s suit, and he knows it's not _his_ Tony's but it doesn't matter. Arto’s screams die down and he buries his face in Steve’s neck, sobbing.

“No,” Arto says, and he’s clinging to Steve so tightly it hurts. His fingers are digging into the back of his neck. “No, go away, fucking go away.”

Sampson’s face darkens. “I see you haven’t learned any manners since you’ve been away,” he says, and the contempt on his face only increases Steve’s desire to break his fucking neck. How dare he stand there looking at Arto like that, and in _Tony’s fucking armor_.

“That’s not yours,” he says, voice shaking with rage. “I’ll be taking that back.”

“And that’s not yours,” Sampson counters. “How about we trade? The armor for the child.”

“You think I’m letting you lay another finger on him-”

“Don’t be boring, Captain,” Sampson interrupts. “Damn it, it’s like dealing with the Commander all over again.”

“I am taking my son, and I am getting him out of here,” Steve says. “You try and stop me, and I will kill you.”

“He is not yours!” Sampson shouts, and Arto flinches at the raised volume.  “I made him, he belongs to me!”

“You left him to die!” Steve bellows back. “You left him in that lab!”

“And you have no idea how much it killed me,” Sampson snaps back. “Years of work left behind-” he breaks off and looks at Arto with contempt. “Though considering the amount of trouble the little shit gave me, I wasn’t exactly weeping-”

“Well you’re about to find out exactly how much trouble a super-soldier could give you when fully grown,” Steve says coldly, and Sampson sneers at him but there’s an edge of worry in his eyes, a hint of fear that Steve spots with vindictive satisfaction.

He hopes that Sampson can’t spot the fear he’s feeling, because it’s still there and it’s very real. He has no idea if Tony even made it through that firefight as they got split up, and even thinking it makes him want to be sick-

_Calm down, be smart._

Natasha’s words echo in his mind, and he holds onto them and forces himself to breathe. Tony will be fine. He’ll be catching them up in seconds. He’s just got to find the armor. He’ll be trusting Steve to get Arto to safety while he finds his armor, and then Iron Man will be there to back them up.

Steve meets Sampson’s eyes, calculating. He’s made no move to hurt Steve yet, even though he very easily could. With that in mind, Steve opts for stalling while he works out how he can beat a the armor while he’s injured, without his shield and having to think about keeping Arto out of harm's way as well.

“So. Nice amour,” he says, casual. “Where did you get it? You guys start copying Iron Man as well as me?”

“No,” Sampson says, and he doesn't look suspicious at Steve’s small-talk, which is a good sign for now. “Though it might not be a bad idea to provide armor for the soldiers when they’re fully grown. No, this was taken directly off of our dimension’s Iron Man. He didn’t exactly need it anymore, seeing as he was dead.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Steve says without thinking. “I hope you know that.”

Sampson just chuckles, smug. “You are a single soldier - who has a pretty impressive capabilities, I will give you that. But you are alone, you don’t have your shield, you are wounded and you are pre-occupied with looking after that thing in your arms.”

Steve stares at him. “Arto, get down,” he says voice wavering with anger. “Get behind me.”

Arto slides down his side without argument. Steve doesn’t break eye-contact with Sampson as Arto moves behind him, holding onto Steve’s pant leg with trembling fingers.

“Last chance,” Sampson says, and the repulsors on his palms flare in warning. “Give him back.”

Steve steps forwards, out of Arto's grip. “Over my fucking dead body, asshole.”

The first blast of the repulsor is agony. It hits him straight in the chest and sends him staggering backwards, and Arto is screaming behind him and Sampson is lunging at him; Steve gets his footing and leaps forwards, kneeing Sampson as hard as he can in the midsection. He grabs for his wrists and forces them away from him, digging his fingers into the metal hard enough to dent it.

A second blast tears a hole in the ceiling, and Steve can still hear Arto behind him as the lights come crashing down, spitting sparks as the wires snap.

“Arto, run!” he shouts as best he can with his chest feeling almost as bad as it did when he broke his sternum. “The stairs, go!”

Sampson gets a hand free, ripping himself from Steve’s grip and Steve manages to block the blow with his forearm, countering with a punch right to the center of the chest plate. It’s the most painful fight he’s ever been in, and not because he’s hurt; he’s having to unleash his strength on Tony’s armor, a Tony he never met and never loved, a Tony who died fighting Hydra-

But he knows that his Tony would rather die than have his armor in someone else’s hands. So if that’s what it takes, that’s what he’ll do.

An armored hand shoots out and grabs him around the neck, fingers digging in hard. He’s lifted off his feet and slammed back into the ground, hard enough to knock all the air from his lungs. Gasping and blinking away stars, he manages to get his feet up and around the armor’s legs, shoving at Sampson’s shoulder and knocking him off balance, rolling them over. Sampson isn’t a highly trained fighter, that much is clear - he’s relying on the armor and brute strength to take Steve down.

He goes to swing for the faceplate but Sampson throws him off, grabbing his shoulders and surging forwards and up, slamming Steve into the side of the portal chamber. His head snaps painfully back against the side of it and he can taste blood in his mouth-

“Fuck off, leave him alone!”

Pure fear pierces his heart because _Arto is there_ , grabbing hold of the armor and yanking hard at one of the plates on the back of the thigh. Sampson turns his head and then simply kicks out at Arto, sending him flying backwards. He hits the ground hard and Steve lets out a strangled scream, but Arto is already back on his feet, howling in rage-

There’s a deafening crash, and Steve hears a familiar whine, and he looks over Sampson’s armored shoulder just in time to see a second set of armor crash through the wall, landing on one knee with a fist braced on the floor in front of him. Helmet-less and more angry than Steve has ever seen him, Tony straightens up and raises both hands.

“First off, get your hands off of him. Second, that’s my armor, buddy.”

Arto scrambles to his feet and runs behind Tony, standing behind him and clutching onto his leg. He bares his teeth at Sampson, making an angry growling noise and shaking with fear and anger.

Sampson doesn’t waste any time. He grabs Steve and throws him bodily across the room, and then fires both repulsors as Tony takes off, the two armors meeting with a crash in the center of the room. Tony is more experienced and is murderously angry, but Sampson isn’t as exhausted and Tony’s head is exposed, and it’s clear Sampson is trying to take advantage of the fact. He lands a solid punch on Tony’s jaw that sends him reeling, and Tony answers with a repulsor blast that hits Sampson square in the chest. It only seems to make him angrier.

Steve struggles to his feet and looks wildly around for Arto - he’s barely turned his head and then Arto is there and barreling into him, clinging to him with every bit of his strength.

“Steve, go!” Tony bellows, and Steve bolts for the door even though his instinct is screaming at him to fight, to help Tony. The ground shudders underneath his feet again and it feels like the two armors are the ones causing it, two titans clashing as the earth shakes and cowers beneath them.

An armored hand grab hold of his shoulder and yanks him back. He staggers and turns to retaliate but Tony is already there, grabbing the armor and hauling it back off of him, throwing Sampson bodily across the room towards the portal chamber. He hits the edge of the doorway with a crash and the chamber flares to life, humming faintly with flickering lights struggling on.

Behind Steve, something else hums to life. It’s all sensors and screens and switches, but considering the timing he knows it’s got to be something to do with the portal chamber-

A repulsor blast hits him square in the back, punching all the air from his lungs. He lurches forwards, and with Arto in his arms he hasn’t got hands free to steady himself. His temple cracks off the console and the world lurches away from him in a sickening swoop of pain. Everything goes blurry and threatens to slide away; he’s vaguely aware of the throbbing pain in his skull and even though his suit shielded the worst of the blast his back is agony. The tile is still quaking beneath his cheek and he can distantly hear screams and the whine and blast of repulsors, the clash of metal and shattering of glass-

“-Steve!”

With the scream of his name he surges into consciousness proper. Arto is yanking hard at the straps of his uniform and sobbing uncontrollably, and as he lifts his head he sees Tony shove Sampson back down onto the ground, pinning him in place with his hands clenched around the helmet of the offending armor, face twisted in pain and fury as the metal slowly buckles. Sampson’s armored head is pressed into the metal flooring of the portal chamber, head and shoulders just inside as he struggles to get free, trying to get out from under Tony’s weight.

Steve tries to call out. Can’t. He swallows hard and finds words, a broken gasp of Tony’s name that’s not loud enough, and he’s pushing himself up on shaking elbows, blinking blood out of his eyes.

And Sampson manages to wrench an arm free, and he lifts a gauntlet, and he points it straight at Tony’s face-

“Tony, get back!” Steve surges up onto his knees towards the console and Tony immediately throws himself backwards at Steve’s hoarse shout, and Sampson pushes himself up with his repulsor flaring, trying to aim for Tony’s head-

And Steve lunges forwards and slaps his palm against the black button sitting in the center of the console. There’s a roar of energy and the sound of electrics surging; there’s a horrendous scream as the portal chamber fires up in a blinding swell of orange-pink light-

\- and then nothing.

The room is quiet, save for the distantly rumbling explosions and groans from the building around them, and the spitting and protesting of the electrics in the room, exhausted from their surge. Steve slumps back against the console, panting, and is jostled painfully by a sudden armful of Arto who throws himself into his lap with his face buried in Steve’s neck, head banging against Steve’s jaw.

There’s a groan and Tony sits up, slowly pushing himself onto hands and knees. He looks to Steve, back visibly heaving as he breathes even through the armor, and then to the now-headless armor that lies just outside of the portal chamber.

“That’s sick, Steve,” he pants. “You interdimensionally decapitated him.”

“Does it look like I give a fuck,” Steve replies, voice violently shaking. “Get here.”

“Yes, Captain,” Tony says, and he’s crawling over to Steve, reaching for him with trembling armored hands. His knees bump up against Steve’s thighs and then he’s kneeling over him and leaning in; Steve catches his face in his hand and shakily kisses him, feeling close to both tears and laughter.

And passing out as well.

“I got you,” Tony says, between kisses. “We’re alright. It’s over.”

Arto pushes himself up, winding an arm around Tony’s neck and twisting around to fearfully look at the other armor where it lies motionless. “Is he gone?” he asks, voice small.

“Yeah,” Tony says, sounding exhausted. “Yeah he’s gone.”

Arto nods jerkily, lip trembling. “Can we go home?”

“Yeah,” Tony says, and he kisses Steve again like he can’t help himself, like he can’t stop. He manages to pull himself away, breathing unsteadily against Steve’s mouth. “Lets do what the brat says.”

Steve nods slowly, head protesting the movement. He smiles weakly, bumps his forehead gently against Tony’s, running his palm up and down Arto’s back and feeling small shaking fingers pulling gently at the hair of the back of his head.

“Yeah,” he says, exhausted. “Whatever you want.”   

* * *

 

By the time they get topside, it’s clear the fight is all but over. The cavalry has arrived; four SHIELD jets are dotted around the complex, and SHIELD agents are scurrying around like ants, securing the perimeter and prisoners. There’s a few back-suited Hydra Agents tied up, and a gaggle of yellow-suited AIM soldiers being unceremoniously hustled into the back of a SHIELD jet. Steve can see Coulson in the distance, directing the efforts and he’s grateful that it’s someone he trusts running the SHIELD side of things.

He grunts in pain as they stagger over charred lumps of concrete that are partially blocking the doorway; several SHIELD agents run over to assist, but Toiny waves them away.

“I got him,” he says, tightening his grip on Steve’s waist slightly as they limp out into the light, blinking hard in the late afternoon sun.

There’s no jokes about him getting hurt, no wisecracks about Steve being a hypocrite. Just armored hands keeping him up on one side, and holding onto Arto on the other. Arto’s head rests against the shoulder of the armor, fingers tracing up and down the chestplate. He’s stopped crying but is very quiet, eyes unfocused and a thousands miles away.

“Steve!”

Steve looks up at a shout of his name and to his relief he sees Bucky running towards him, shield in hand and looking panicked. the suit is a wreck, covered in scorch marks and blood and with several marks on it that look too much like gunshots for Steve’s liking.

“You fucking jackass, I thought you’d died,” Bucky is despairing, but he gets on Steve’s other side and hauls his free arm over his shoulder. For once, Tony doesn’t even protest at Bucky’s proximity; he simply nods at Bucky in thanks.

“Where is everyone?” Steve asks as they start moving again, grateful to have Bucky’s support but wishing that the SHIELD agents staring at him would fuck off already. “Buck, what’s up?”

“Still waiting on Barton,” Bucky says tersely, and shit, that’s why he looks so outwardly unsettled. “We’ve got everyone else. Well, Hulk is MIA but we can hear him every now and again.”

“He’ll be fine,” Tony says. “You know Barton, likes to keep us on our toes. Besides, that man is like a cockroach, impossible to get rid of.”

Bucky nods jerkily, jaw clenching tightly. Together, they limp over to the quinjet and as they do, they hear the raised tones of an argument inside. Before Steve can even fully process the voices, Natasha comes stalking out, looking furious. Jane follows her, reaches out to catch her wrist.

“Nat, no, the whole place is on fire, it's not _safe_. You can’t just - oh my god!”

She breaks off at the sight of Tony, Steve and Arto. Nat abruptly comes to a halt and then she’s running forwards towards them, Jane right behind her. Nat stops right in front of them, reaching out to touch Steve’s cheek. She’s shaking. “Thank you,” she mouths silently, and looks to Tony and Arto, her mouth twisting as she fights back her emotions.

“I’m glad to see you boys,” she says, and her voice is steady but her eyes are too bright. “Though I thought Clint was with you. I hoped.”

“I shall go and retrieve him,” Thor’s voice says, and Steve looks up to see Thor and Johnny walking up; Thor looks grim and Johnny looks exhausted.

“No, you only just got here,” Jane objects, looking upset, and Thor holds out a hand for her, expression softening marginally.

“I’ll go,” Johnny says, leaning forwards with his hands on his knees. “Place is on fire, right? I might as well.”

“Come on then,” Bucky says brusquely, and ducks out from under Steve’s arm. Nat immediately takes his place, her shoulder tucked under Steve’s and her hand resting on the star on his chest. Arto blinks at her but doesn’t say anything or lift his head away from Tony's shoulder; Steve feels his stomach twist in panic and he hopes Arto isn’t going into shock - he’s been through so much and seen so much today.

“Bucky, wait-” Steve begins, but Bucky is already marching off. Johnny grimaces and then jogs after him, rubbing at his ribs-

There’s an almighty _boom_ , the ground jolting beneath their feet even where they stand a hundred feet away. The whole building seems to shift, and the SHIELD agents are running away, shouting at everyone to get back, and Bucky is breaking into a run, heading towards the building even as it starts to collapse in on itself.

“Bucky, no!” Steve shouts and tries to step forwards-

A faint roar can be heard over the sound of the building collapsing, and Steve looks up just in time to see the Hulk erupt from the wreckage, leaping out of the building and towards them. He hits the ground with a grunt, scattering SHIELD agents in every direction, and then he looks around for them and leaps again.

This time, Steve can hear the strangled yell underneath the roaring of the Hulk and the noise from the building, and his heart leaps as he spots two arms clinging on desperately around Hulk’s neck. Hulk hits the ground a few feet away from them and snorts heavily, shaking his head as Clint slides from his back, covered in dirt and looking a little green.

“I’m back,” he says weakly, and then his knees give out, hitting the floor in an untidy sprawl of limbs and a cloud of dust. Hulk simply turns and plucks Clint up by the back of his vest, standing him upright again.

“Thanks, big guy,” he says weakly, patting Hulk’s arm as he leans against him, trying to get his balance. “I owe you.”

Arto makes a high pitched noise of alarm, and Hulk snorts again, looking sidelong at Arto and then starting to skulk away. Arto’s eyes are huge and wide, mouth hanging slightly open. He doesn’t exactly looks scared; more confused and a little bit wary.

“It’s just Bruce,” Tony tells him hastily, obviously hoping that Arto won’t react too negatively to the giant green rage monster that’s just appeared out of nowhere. “Half of Bruce’s superhero is big and green and likes to smash things. He’s called the Hulk. Don’t worry. He’ll turn back in a bit.”

“Turn back?” Arto whispers. “Bruce?”

“Yeah, he’ll be-”

Tony breaks off as there’s a furious bellow from just behind them, which _hasn’t_ come from the Hulk. Bucky is marching back towards them, storming past the Hulk without so much as slowing down or glancing at him.

“You fucking asshole!”

Clint lifts his chin at the sound of Bucky’s voice, and his relieved and surprised expression quickly goes confused as he sees Bucky’s murderous glare. “Hey, I came to rescue you! Why are you yelling at me?!”

“Because you are a fucking piece of shit,” Bucky says, and he drops the shield to the ground, grabs hold of Clint’s vest in his metal hand, yanks him forwards and kisses him square on the mouth.

“Oh, wow,” Jane says, looking away, eyebrows almost at her hairline. Johnny looks over and chokes on a laugh, hastily clapping his palm across his mouth, shoulders shaking with mirth. Steve just looks at the pair, looks at Tony and then gives up.

“About time,” Natasha mutters under her breath and Thor chuckles, looking amused.

Bucky pulls away from Clint, still looking furious. “I could kill you. _Stop getting hurt!_ ”

Clint just stares at him, looking more like he’s been punched in the face. “You kissed me.”

“Going to kill you,” Bucky informs him, and kisses him again before Clint can think of a rebuttal. Clint stays frozen for a long moment, and then his hands move and come up to tentatively hold onto Bucky’s elbows.

“Gross.”

And its Arto’s voice that breaks the strange sort of not-quite awkward silence, and Steve is so relieved to hear it that he starts to laugh and he can’t stop.

“That’s ten bucks, please,” Tony murmurs in his ear.

“Not a chance. That’s clearly only just happened, which means _I_ get to say I told you so,” Steve says, and pulls Tony close, ignoring his protesting ribs. “What a fucking day.”

He tries to step back but his leg doesn’t quite hold him, wobbling violently under his weight; Tony notices and simply sinks to the ground, pulling Steve with him. Steve protests but Tony isn’t having any of it and pulls Steve up against him so he’s leaning against the armor. Arto crawls over into his lap, sitting sideways with his feet against Tony’s thigh and his head tucked in under Steve’s chin. Submitting, Steve breathes out deeply and lets himself lean more heavily against Tony, holding Arto close, pressing his face to his hair and letting himself be comforted by the fact he’s there and safe in his arms.

He hears footsteps moving around them but doesn’t bother to look up; he knows it’s the team around him and he trusts SHIELD to be able to tackle the cleanup.

He opens his eyes as Tony shifts; Natasha has joined them in sitting on the ground, leaning against Tony’s other side and exhaling heavily. Tony looks mildly surprised but then just shrugs and lets her get comfortable. Johnny eyes them from a moment and then drops to the floor nearby, sprawling out on his back and throwing an arm up over his eyes. Jane and Thor are next to join the party, sitting side by side, Jane resting her head against Thor’s shoulder and letting him hold her hands between his own. Bucky and Clint finally seem to realize that they’re in the middle of everything, being observed by Avengers and SHIELD agents alike, and hastily break apart. Bucky crosses his arms over his chest with a scowl that dares anyone to fucking mention what just happened, and snatches up the shield before marching over to sit on the floor opposite Steve. Clint takes a moment longer to get going again. He’s looking utterly poleaxed, but then a slightly dazed, pleased smile flickers, and he walks over and slumps down next to Bucky. Bucky sighs and then pulls him in between his legs so Clint can lean back against him, Bucky’s metal arm around his waist. The shield rests on the floor at his side, glinting happily in the sun, approving.

“So, did we catch whoever it was that was brought through the portal?” Natasha asks, watching the burning building calmly. It’s spewing black acrid smoke into the air, and Steve idly thinks they should probably get the hell out of there but he can’t quite bring himself to move.

“Yeah,” Tony says shortly. “We dealt with him.”

“Who was it?” Johnny storm asks, leaning up on his elbow and squinting in the sun, dragging his fingers lazily through the dirt.

“Sampson,” Tony says. “The doctor responsible for-” he gestures at Arto and Johnny nods in understanding.

“Sampson?” Natasha asks, head turning quickly to look at Tony.

“Yes, why?”

“Because the leading Hydra agent that we took in was also a Sampson,” she says curtly, climbing to her feet. “Be right back.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Steve says, already alarmed and furious at the possible that there’s another Sampson still alive, his whole body going tense as he tries to get up. “I should go-”

“Sit the fuck down, Rogers-”

“You move and I’ll shoot you.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“Thor, get your hammer, put it on his legs.”

“No!”

Steve looks indignantly around at the rest of the team and when he sees nothing but unimpressed frowns and flat glares he gives up, slumping back into Tony. “Workplace bullying is a thing, you know.”

“You’re hurt,” Tony says sharply. “You’re not going anywhere. Even if it is- even if it’s him again, Nat can deal with him. I don’t want-” he breaks off, looking down at Arto, troubled. Steve thinks he gets it; as far as Arto knows doctor Sampson is gone, and he doesn’t want to scare him by revealing that there’s more than one.

“I’ll go get a medical kit,” Jane says, and climbs to her feet. She leans over to press a kiss to Thor’s forehead as she goes, and he smiles warmly, catching her hand and kissing her fingers before he lets her go.

“I’m like a seventh wheel here,” Johnny complains, and then perks up. “Hey, when Widow gets back-”

Bucky glares at him. It’s still pretty frightening even as he’s sitting stroking his hand up and over Clint’s forehead, pushing his hair back from his face. “You’d have better luck with the Hulk, pal. And you’d be less likely to end up with broken bones.”

Clint snorts, eyes lazy and half lidded under Bucky’s attentions. “Speaking of Hulk, are we going to do anything about that?”

Steve grimaces. Hulk is still milling restlessly around nearby, glaring at the wreckage of the building and occasionally baring his teeth and roaring at the Hydra soldiers that have been captured.

“Hulk,” Arto says quietly, and he looks up at Steve before slowly standing up on his thighs, wobbling dangerously and he leans over Steve’s shoulder. “Hulk.”

Hulk’s head snaps around at the sound of his name, and then he slowly, cautiously lumbers forwards towards them.

“Whoa, whoa,” Johnny says, sounding alarmed and sitting up, but Clint and Bucky both shush him violently, flapping hands at him to get him to shut up. Steve stays perfectly still, holding onto Arto around his middle. Arto watches Hulk come forwards, fascinated. Steve meets Tony’s eyes and Tony nods almost imperceptibly.

“Hey big guy,” he calls when Hulk is around ten feet away. “This is Arto.”

Hulk gnashes his teeth and jerks away, looking irritated. For a moment Steve is certain he’s going to leap away, but then he edges forwards closer, ducking his head and looking suddenly and unaccountably _shy_.

“Strong,” Arto says, pulling gently at Steve’s hair. “Rescued Clint.”

“That he did,” Steve says. “He’s a friend.”

“You rescued me and Hulk rescued Clint,” Arto says, and to Steve’s utter shock he reaches out towards the Hulk, fingers stretching across the space. The Hulk huffs and looks away, and then he edges forwards with one massive hand outstretched.

“Hulk,” Arto repeats and his fingers brush against Hulk’s, then he’s pressing his hand to Hulk’s palm, looking so absolutely tiny. Hulk rumbles, deep and low in his chest, and then he’s slumping backwards, blinking dazedly.

“Son of a bitch,” Tony says, impressed. Arto gasps, and Steve laughs tiredly as he watches Arto watch Hulk shrink back down into regular Bruce-size, stumbling and staggering through the transformation.

“Jane, bring clothing and glasses for Bruce!” Thor shouts, and they hear a faint shout of ‘okay!’ drift back from the jet.

“Well,” Bruce says breathlessly from where he’s sat on his ass in the dirt under the shadow of the jet’s wing. “That’s new.”

“Kid’s got all the superpowers,” Bucky remarks with a faint grin, and Steve tiredly grins back.

“He’s braver than I am,” Johnny says fervently.

“No sense of danger,” Tony says. “Takes after his dad.”

And Steve is laughing, even if it hurts his head and his ribs, sinking back into Tony’s touch. Tony smiles, bemused, and then turns his head so he can press his mouth to Steve’s head. He’s not exactly comfortable to lean against in the armor but Steve doesn’t care. He nearly lost Tony today and the thought still makes him feel sick and panicked, and he’s still not over the fact that it was his fault for letting Tony go alone-

“Not a coincidence,” Natasha’s voice calls out, and everyone looks up as she returns with Coulson at her side, Bruce edging self-consciously behind them. Jane emerges from the back of the jet a moment later and quickly runs over, passing Bruce a spare set of clothes and his glasses.

“No?” Tony says to Natasha as she sits down next to Thor. “If you’re about to tell me some bad news I’m going to have to quickly excuse myself and do some more decapitating-”

“Alan Sampson. Father of the other Doctor Sampson,” Natasha says, nodding her head towards Arto as she sits down next to Thor. “It seems that dimension was a generation ahead of us. But he’s under arrest and not going anywhere for a considerable amount of time. I heard rumours that he was being sent to the facility in Siberia?”

“Only the best for our resident mad scientists,” Coulson says. “I might even be kind enough to put him next door to Blonksy, seeing as he likes his genetic engineering so much.”

“Hang on - this guy we caught brought his son through from another dimension?” Johnny asks, looking perplexed. “Jesus. I’ve had about enough of dimensions today.”

“What became of the younger Sampson?” Thor asks. “Did you send him back to his own dimension?”

Steve shrugs. “Part of him.”

“Steve decapitated him using the portal chamber,” Tony fills in, and there’s a collection of winces and groans from the team, and an approving smirk from Natasha. Bucky kicks out at Steve, hitting his knee.

“You’re meant to be the good one.”

“You’re wearing the suit, buddy,” Steve replies. “You’re the good one today.”

“Yeah, Steve’s in his badass black gear,” Clint says, craning his head around to look at Bucky. “Means he can do whatever shit he likes.”

“Yeah, I’m actually Captain Badass now,” Steve says seriously, and everyone is laughing and rolling their eyes at him.

“In all seriousness,” Coulson says. “You did a hell of a job today. Reports from our intel and undercover agents is that Hydra are abruptly ceasing and desisting at several key locations. The cells in Romania have already disbanded. What you did here today knocked them right on their ass, so I don’t think we’ll be hearing from them in a while.”

Clint cheers weakly, and Bucky snorts with laughter.

“Any more good news?”

“Yes, Lilya and Este are going to be fine,” Coulson says. “Shaken up, but fine. We’re getting them out of here on the first jet out.”

“What happened with AIM, anyway?” Tony asks. “I thought they were backup?”

To his surprise, Jane start to laugh. “They brought in six carriers of troops to support Hydra,” she explains. “One landed and offloaded, then Bruce - I mean, Hulk knocked the next out of the sky and the rest all just flew off. The guys on the ground surrendered pretty quickly.”

Coulson smiles. “Apparently they signed up to help achieve technical supremacy and to earn a nice paycheck, not to get squashed by the Hulk. I don’t think their hearts were really in it."

“Pathetic,” Bucky snorts.  

“Giving up is actually the most sensible thing AIM have ever done,” Tony muses.

“Yeah, I hear working for Hydra is the worst,” Clint chimes in. “Their benefits suck. They don’t even get dental.”

“This does mean we’ve got five carriers of AIM troops to track,” Natasha points out, and Clint groans and pulls a face.

“Na-at, why would you say that?”

“Later,” Tony says, waving a hand at her. “We’re having a week’s holiday after this shit. Minimum.”

“Sold,” Bucky says. “That includes you, Rogers.”

“Yeah, I got it. Holiday.” Steve says and gives him a tired thumbs up. He’s already planning on getting into bed and sleeping for a damn week, and he doesn’t even care if Arto refuses to get in his own bed, because Steve won’t be letting him out of his sight for the next forever anyway.

“So, Daddy Rogers,” Tony says quietly to him as the others talk amongst themselves, patching up odd injuries and checking weapons. “Brood all accounted for. We gonna blow this popsicle stand?”

Steve breathes out deeply, looks around at the team - his family - and then down at Arto. Arto seems to sense him looking and tips his chin up, meeting Steve’s eyes. He blinks slowly and then he smiles and yawns massively, rubbing at one of his oh-so-familiar eyes with a fist.

“Home,” he says, sounding tired. He presses his fingers to the star in the center of Steve’s chest and blinks up at Steve again, that mirror of his own features waiting for his answer, his son resting safe and trusting in his arms.

“Yeah,” Steve says, smiling back. “Yeah, lets go home.”

**  
**  


**Works inspired by this one:**

  * ["Betrayal."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13338054) by [expolsion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/expolsion/pseuds/expolsion)




End file.
